Overwhelming
by Sekai-no-Hi
Summary: Seto is making Jou miserable, and things only get more complicated with Otogi involved. Yaoi
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Yu Gi Oh is not mine. Do you see the bishis jumping each other? ...No. I didn't think so. But when I'm rich and powerful and control the universe, it's at the top of my list of things to Kaiba-ize and make mine for corruption purposes. Bwahaha. Kidding. Sorta. I also do not own Everclear, just a lot of their cds, a t-shirt, and Art Alexakis' guitar pick from the show they played in Kona last 4th of July.

Warnings: This. Is. Yaoi. That means cute little bishis molesting each other, ravishing each other, making each other's lives miserable, and then molesting each other some more. Got a problem? You're missin' out, but who am I to judge. Just don't read this and bitch to me about it later, because that's really freakin' lame. Also, this fic sorta... kinda... hardcore bastardizes Kaiba. Don't get me wrong!! I LOVE Kaiba!! He's most of the reason I started watching Yu Gi Oh (finally, after four months of reading Koneko Shido's glorious fan fics. Go read them! Shoo shoo!!), but sighs sacrifices must be made for the greater lemon. And I _promise_, as soon as this is done, if not before, I'll write another fic _extolling_ the gloriousness that is Seto Kaiba. I really do adore him. Really. Oh, and this fic will inevitably involve yaoi lemons and then some, abusive bishis, bastardization of gloriousness that may get my lynched, and a nice healthy dose of S&M. Enjoy, everyone!!

Notes: I've wanted to do a fic to Everclear's "Overwhelming" for a long time. It's perfect for a nice dose of angst. Also, I promised Koneko Shido I would try out the Otogi/Jou thing, because we thought it sounded like an interesting change of pace. As for Kaiba, well, you'll just have to wait and see what happens to him. And I bet you won't be expecting it! grin Oh, and this isn't a song fic. It's just inspired by the song, so I'll put all the lyrics first.

Pairings: Jou/Kaiba Jou/Otogi Kaiba/Bakura

(Jou=Jounouchi Katsuya=Joey Wheeler; Otogi=Ryuuji Otogi=Duke Devlin; Bakura=Yami no Bakura; Ryou=Bakura Ryou; Honda=Tristan; Anzu=Tea Gardner=Atrocity; Kaiba=Kaiba Seto=Great and Powerful Hotness)

Overwhelming

It can come from out of nowhere,  
hit you when you're safe and warm.  
Take it easy, my star your time is gonna come,  
your time is gonna come.  
Yeah, you got those crazy blue eyes.  
You got those crazy blues.  
All those pretty smiles,  
I can see them laughing at you.  
Your time is gonna come, your time is gonna come.  
I don't wanna be your punching bag,  
your complacent little princess all tragic and sad.  
I'm not gonna let you overwhelm me anymore.  
Yeah, you say you got this bad thing, you say you've got it bad.  
You have broken every heart of every friend you've ever had.  
Yeah, the time is gonna come when all your friends just go away.  
I wonder why you stick around, sometimes I wish you would leave.  
You say you love me forever, then you spit on me.  
Your time is gonna come,  
I swear your time is gonna come.  
I don't want to be your whipping boy.  
Yes, your happy little loser, someone you can ignore.  
I'm not gonna let you overwhelm me anymore.  
I'm not gonna let you hurt me anymore.  
I'm not gonna let you hit me anymore.  
No, I will not let you kick me anymore.  
I will not let you overwhelm me anymore.  
It can come from out of nowhere.  
I don't want to be your simple saving grace,  
just another little victim with a happy face.  
Someday, someday soon, somebody's gonna come,  
I hope they do this to you.  
I'm not gonna let you overwhelm me.  
I will not let you hurt me anymore.  
No, I will not let you hit me anymore.  
I will not let you twist me anymore.  
No, I will not let you turn me inside out.

Jounouchi sat at his desk and stared out the window at the driving rain. It had been raining like this for a week, not that he minded. He actually kind of liked the rain. It was soothing.

Today, however, the rain was threatening to turn into sleet. The temperature had been dropping all morning, and everyone was hoping for snow so school would be closed the next day.

A tap on the shoulder brought Jou back to reality. He turned around slightly in his seat to see who had done it and was handed a note from the girl behind him. He looked at her suspiciously, but she only shrugged and went back to her text book.

Jou looked at the note for a second, and then opened it. It had one line and a signature:

Did you get into another fight?

-Ryou

Jou sighed. Leave it to Ryou to bring up the new bruise on his cheek. Good thing the other ones were covered by his clothes. He hated lying to his friends, but he figured that they would be less worried about him if they thought he was just going out and getting into fights like he usually did. He turned around to where Ryou was looking at him expectantly a few desks back and nodded. Ryou rolled his eyes and went back to his class work.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, until just after the final bell had rung.

Jou saw the caller id on his cell-phone screen, but pushed the "answer" button, anyway.

"Seto."

"Hey, Puppy. Wow, don't get all excited to hear from me, or anything. And here, to think I was calling to see if you wanted a ride home from school."

"Thanks, but I think I'll walk."

"Puppy, it's been raining all day. You live two miles from school."

"I like the rain."

"So do I. I especially like _you_ in the rain. But that's of no matter. It isn't raining anymore. It's sleeting. You'll catch your death."

Jou rolled his eyes and refrained from commenting about how he doubted Seto _cared_ if he caught his death, but instead replied, "I have an umbrella."

Seto chuckled. "See, now I _know_ you're lying. You left your umbrella here last night." Jou cursed silently. "Oh come on, Puppy. Stop playing hard to get. I can have my limo driver pick you up in five minutes."

Jou was just stepping out of the building as Seto said this, and had to force himself to suppress a growl. Seto had been right. It was sleeting; hard. He sighed. "Fine, Seto. I'll be out in front." He could almost _hear_ Seto's smirk.

Jou was glad that none of his friends were around when the limo pulled up. They all knew there was something going on between him and Seto, but it still made him self-conscious getting into Seto's limo in front of all of them.

He was actually surprised to see Seto himself sitting in the back seat when he got in.

"Don't you have some work or something you should be doing?"

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's gratitude for you. And I even took time out of my busy schedule to pick my puppy up from school."

"I'm not _your_ puppy. Come to think of it, I'm not even a puppy. How many times I gotta tell you to stop callin' me that?"

Seto ignored him. "You're all wet."

"So?"

"You should get out of your wet clothes. You don't want to get sick, do you?" Seto smirked. Jou knew this game.

"I have dry clothes at my place. Just drop me off-Hey! We're not going in the right direction! Seto, goddamn it, take me home. I don't have time to go to your place again; I got stuff I hafta do."

"Such as? I hardly think you could have anything pressingly important to do, Puppy. Other than me, that is."

Jou turned to the window, exasperated. "You really are a sick bastard, you know that?"

"And?"

"And Ryou asked me about this bruise on my cheek. Same as he asked about the one on my arm three days ago, and the ones on my neck before that. Do I have to go on? You're just lucky they only see me fully clothed."

Seto gave Jou an appraising look. "They had _better_ only see you fully clothed, puppy. And as for that bruise, you get into enough fights. Just tell them that's what happened."

Jou turned his glare back on Kaiba. "That's exactly what I tell them; but one of these days, one of them is gonna get a different idea, and then what? Then what am I gonna tell them? 'Oh yeah, you know how I've been fucking Seto Kaiba? Well yeah, he gets a bit rough sometimes. Nothing to worry about. Just screws me into the mattress and beats the shit outta me once in awhile. No; nothing at all to worry about.' Oh, and get it through your thick skull; I'm not yours. If any of my friends sees me anything less than clothed, that's _my_ business. You got that?" He was expecting the slap before it came, but it still stung, especially since it had been right over the bruise that was already there.

Seto's eyes were flashing. "You better learn some manners, puppy. And don't you pretend you don't like it. You beg me for it every time." And with that he grabbed Jou's collar and pulling him onto his lap and kissing him hard.

Jou was very glad the back seat of the limo was soundproof. He tried to pull away at first, squirming backwards in an attempt to get off of Seto's lap, but the tight confines of the car made this difficult, as did Seto's hands on his ass and Seto's teeth and tongue attacking his mouth and neck. He gave in slightly and allowed himself a small moan which was answered by Seto's throaty chuckle against his neck.

"There, you see? This isn't so bad. Now, be a good boy," one of Seto's hands began to snake its way up Jou's shirt, toying with his nipples, "and come over to my house. We'll have fun, I promise."

Between gasps, Jou managed to nod. "You really are a sick fuck, you know that, Seto?"

Seto bit Jou's neck, making him squirm. "Yeah, I really am, huh? Don't pretend you don't like it, puppy. Hey look; we're home."

Jou barely had time to straighten his clothes and be none-too-gently shoved off Seto's lap before the limo door was opened. Seto ushered him upstairs, once there shutting the door and slamming Jou back against it, kissing him hard. Jou winced at the hard contact of the door against his already bruised back, but gave in to the kiss, letting Kaiba's hands play roughly through his hair, using it to pull his head back so as to have better access to Jou's neck. Something was telling Jou that he would be wearing a turtleneck tomorrow.

Still nipping at Jou's neck and lips, Seto managed to peel the damp shirt off, followed by his own, before using Jou's belt loop to pull him onto the bed. There, he pinned Jou's wrists above his head with one hand, toying with the button on his pants with the other, his knee rubbing over the damp fabric covering Jou's crotch. Jou moaned.

"Just _do_ it already, Seto. I wasn't lying. I have homework-ahhh!" he broke off as Seto finally managed to open his pants, stroking Jou's warmth slowly. Seto smirked.

"You sure do complain a lot for someone who has to do so little in bed," Seto said, stroking Jou a couple more times. Then he removed his hand and set about getting Jou's pants off; a task that took both hands, meaning he had to release Jou's wrists. Jou took this opportunity to, as soon as Kaiba was again unoccupied, yank him forward, kissing him hard and rejoicing at Seto's stifled gasp.

When he pulled back, Seto was smiling darkly. "Oh, so that's how you want to play. Alright." He straitened up enough to undo and kick off his own pants, before diving once more upon Jou's neck, licking a trail up to Jou's ear, where he nibbled on the earlobe with deceptive gentleness. Jou sighed and arched his neck into Seto's caresses, his hips and groin grinding into Seto's making them both breathe faster.

Finally, Seto pulled back and sat up, pulling Jou into his lap and continuing to kiss and bite his neck and shoulders as he let one finger enter Jou, quickly followed by two more, thrusting harshly against a spot inside Jou that made his whole body arch as he bit down a scream. He only stifled it because he knew it would make Seto way too pleased with himself.

Seto removed the fingers, making Jou growl, and then re-aligned himself with the boy in his lap, letting Jou suck on the fingers of his other hand and then smoothing them over his own length, moistening it slightly before entering Jou roughly, eliciting a small whimper from him as he did.

"Haven't-you-ever-dear-of-lubricant," Jou gasped out as Seto ground their hips together.

"And where'd be the fun in that?" Seto breathed into his ear, nibbling it slightly before capturing Jou's lips in a searing kiss.

"Says you"- Jou muttered, and then he moaned as Seto began stroking his length again, while continuing to do things to his mouth, shoulders, and neck that he was _sure_ would leave marks.

As they both neared climax, Jou felt Seto's nails in his back, leaving new welts over the old ones that never seemed to go away. Right then, however, he was far from caring. The burning heat of Seto inside him, along with one of Seto's hands pumping his length, and the other gripping his hip in a bruising hold was all he was aware of as he arched his back, not able to stop the scream that left his throat while he spilled into Seto's hand. He felt Seto's own warmth within himself a moment later, and then they both just lay there, gasping for a moment before Seto sat up.

"Okay, puppy. You said you had some pressing business to attend to."

Jou was in a near-doze among the rumpled sheets. He opened an eye and looked up at Seto. "And I thought you didn't care about that."

"Ten minutes ago, I didn't, but I have a meeting in forty-five minutes that I can't afford to miss, and you have whatever it was that you said you had to do. I'd hate to keep you from it."

Jou sat up, mentally kicking himself for falling for Seto's sick little game again. "Can I at least take a shower?"

Seto got off the bed, sorting through the clothes tossed in heaps around the room. "Fine. You know where it is", he said, without turning around.

Jou flipped him off behind his back before collecting his own clothes and heading for the door. He just hoped he owned enough turtle necks to keep the public at large unaware of the (he was sure) multiple bruises and bite-marks left by Seto all over his neck and shoulders.

TBC

A/N: Well well. I didn't think it would end up being a lemon right off the bat, but whaddya know. Heh. Hoped you all enjoyed! I'll try to get the second chapter in soon. Four more days of school! Yessss.


	2. Sleet

Disclaimer: Yes. I own Yu Gi Oh. This makes lots of sense, as I am an extremely hentai American college student still living with her father, using her financial aide to buy anime, and skipping end-of-semester homework to write yaoi fan fiction. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense once you think about it. Oh. Wait. No, it doesn't. I do own the Dungeon Dice Monsters disc now, though!! rejoice

Notes: Glad you guys liked chapter one! You are both lovely Hikaris! glomps Zolac no Miko and Koneko Shido for everyone else... uh... yeah... you should all be reading my fan fiction so it will brain wash you and the world will eventually be converted into a land of lecherous, voyeuristic, crazy lunatics and their hikaris. Yes. Yes you should. nods and yeah yeah yeah. Sorry about all the Kaiba bastardizing that's only gonna get worse from here. Oh wait. Still not sorry. My bad. Read and review, oh beloved masses! Hell, I don't care if you wanna flame me. You don't know who I am, so all those reviews you're thinking of sending about how you're going to rip out my spleen and feed it to your salamanders will just be laughed at by me and my Hikaris. Then I will judge your soul against the feather of Ma'at and then feed it to Ahmit the Devourer.

Enjoy! flashes V sign

iku

The storm continued all that week and into the weekend. Once or twice it had started snowing, but never enough to amount to anything, and it always melted into the same slushy mud that stuck to your shoes and inside the wheel wells of cars. Jou was especially not liking the bit about the shoes. His, in fact, were completely soaked through, and his feet were freezing, along with the rest of him, as he trudged along the Domino City sidewalk, coming back from the game shop. And as if just to spite him, it was starting to rain again. In fact, it was really starting to come down.

He cursed himself for forgetting to grab his umbrella last time he had been at Kaiba's. A gust of wind swept past him, whipping his hair into his eyes with a flurry of icy flakes and making his jacket seem next to non-existent.

He started to run. All the stores were closed for the evening, and the only light was offered by streetlights that gave everything an amber stain. It was still enough light to let him see that none of the dark storefronts would be offering any shelter from the wind and sleet. Home was about half a mile away now, and he was getting tired of running when he saw it: a sheltered awning provided by a large building. He ran for it, but upon arrival halted in his tracks.

It was Otogi Ryuuji's game store. Sure, the windows were dark and the doors looked locked, but Jou still wasn't relishing the idea of taking shelter in that bastard's storefront. His pride was still smarting from that incident with the dog suit, and although he knew that Yugi and the rest of his little gang trusted Ryuuji, Jou couldn't help harboring some... resentment. Nevertheless, it was either this or half a mile in the driving sleet and wind. Another gust helped Jou make up his mind, and he climbed the steps to huddle against the large doorframe, wrapping his arms around himself and shivering. With any luck the sleet would let up long enough for him to make it home sometime soon.

He had to stifle a shriek as the doors next to him swung open to reveal Otogi Ryuuji himself, complete as usual with his trademark smirk. He quickly turned the shriek into a glare as he braced himself for Otogi's inevitable condescension.

Otogi, however, just looked at him a moment before saying, "You look cold. You wanna come in?"

Jou gaped. "Uhh"-

"Come on," Otogi looked mildly impatient. "It's cold out here. Either get inside so I can close the door, or sit there outside and shiver. Up to you, really."

The hint of sarcasm jolted Jou back to himself and he rolled his eyes. Otogi was Otogi. But at least it would be warmer inside, and Jou knew he couldn't afford to get sick. It was the end of the semester, and between schoolwork and Kaiba's constant demands for... attention...

Jou pushed himself up and followed Otogi inside. The foyer of the large gaming store was dark, as Jou had seen from outside, but a door to one side opened into a brightly lit and, Jou noted, gloriously heated office. It even had a dice-patterned rolly desk chair, and Dungeon Dice Masters promotional posters were strewn across all four walls. Jou almost snickered.

Otogi went to a closet and rummaged around until he found a towel, which he then threw at Jou. Jou caught it and proceeded to wrap it around himself as he sank down against a wall, legs bent in front of him.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Otogi actually sounded sincere. Jou looked up at him, where he had taken a seat in the dice chair. Otogi caught the look on Jou's face before Jou was aware of it. "You still hate me, don't you." It wasn't a question.

Jou breathed a laugh. "I wont lie to you, Ryuuji, but the way I see it, a guy makes you dress up like a dog and get accosted by the most horrendous cheerleader squad in Domino City, you don't usually go putting him on your list of people to send birthday cards to."

Otogi lowered his eyes and gave his lap a lopsided version of his usual grin. "Yeah, I guess you got a point there, Jounouchi." He laughed. "And I also have to say, I agree with you on the bit about the 'most horrendous cheerleader squad in Domino'. They were something else, weren't they?"

Jou almost smiled in spite of himself. He shook his head, "I know I got a grudge against you, Ryuuji, but at the same time, I feel kinda lame about it. I mean, I gave my word that if you won, you could do whatever you wanted with me, and I lost. So okay, yeah, you were a total dick about it after you won, but hey, I ain't sayin' I woulda been any nicer."

Otogi regarded him for a moment. "Was that some sort of peace offering?" he asked, amused.

Jou gave him a sarcastic look. "Yeah, I guess it was. What, you'd rather be enemies?"

Otogi looked slightly taken aback, but then he shook his head. "No, no. Of course not. I thought I made that clear after the duel with Yami; I know I was a total ass."

Jou nodded. "So we're agreed, then." Otogi looked affronted for a moment until Jou grinned wickedly up at him, snickering.

Otogi laughed, then. "Yeah, yeah I guess we are."

There was a pause for a moment while both boys smiled and contemplated their laps for a moment. Then Jou spoke up. "Hey, how did you know I was out there just now?"

Otogi smiled and pointed to a television monitor mounted on the wall above the door. It showed surveillance of the game store, and one of the cameras seemed to be focused right where he had been sitting. "I was actually getting ready to go home for the night when I saw you. I'm sure you can imagine my surprise to see you of all people sitting out there, but you looked so damn pathetic I didn't want to leave you out there to catch hypothermia; not when Yugi and his gang were just beginning to decide that I hadn't sold my soul."

Jou looked around the office. He was used to Kaiba having to work late, but for some reason it came off as strange to him that Otogi really was the game store's owner, and probably had his hands full as such. Even if he **wasn't** the inheritor of a multi-billion-dollar company.

Jou scowled at the thought of Kaiba and drew the towel closer around himself. "You were leavin' for the night? You sure you don't mind me waiting here? I'm sure the sleet will let up soon, and I'll just walk home before it starts up again. I only live about half a mile away."

Otogi raised an eyebrow and sighed dramatically. "And wouldn't that just defeat the whole purpose of my letting you in here in the first place? Besides, look at the monitor. I don't even want to **drive** anywhere in this." he motioned to one of the screens and Jou saw what he meant. The sleet was sheeting down now, still lit by the amber glow of street lamps whose light was heavily muted now behind the wall of icy rain.

Jou's eyes widened. "Wow."

Otogi nodded once. Then he quirked one of his old mischievous smiles, giving the desk chair a little twirl. "So how come you didn't call Kaiba to come and get you?" he froze at the look that crossed Jou's face at the mention of Kaiba's name.

"What are you talking about?" Jou said, doing his best to keep his voice level.

"Well, um... I mean, I thought you guys were, uh..." he trailed off.

"We aren't a couple, if that's what you're thinking. How'd you hear about that, anyway?" Jou looked at Otogi with his eyes narrowed, scowling.

"Eh, well..." Otogi looked slightly uncomfortable. He had meant that comment as a joke. "It's the business world, you know? Word about those kinda things sorta gets around. I admit, though, you aren't what I had in mind when I pictured Kaiba's choice in... interests."

Jou barked a laugh. "Hah! That boy's about as strait as a corner. I can't see him being with a girl if he was anything less than paid. Or to somehow create a publicity stunt of some sort."

"Oh, well I knew **that**," Otogi rolled his eyes. "That wasn't what I meant. I just pictured him with someone a little more... um... well, the words 'asinine' and 'sado-masochistic' are coming to mind, but maybe I shouldn't be making judgments just yet?" he quirked an eyebrow at Jou.

Jou rolled his eyes. "Oh please. Don't give me any mental images I don't need. To tell the truth, I don't know how the hell this whole thing started between us. I think he sees me as some sort of object he can use when he needs something to take his mind off the task at hand." He laughed bitterly. "Funny how I always go along with it, too." He stopped abruptly when he realized what he was saying. What the hell was he **thinking**? Spilling his guts about him and Seto to Otogi Ryuuji? It must be all the exposure to sleet and cold and stress taking its toll on him. He didn't even talk about Seto to his closest friends.

Otogi was contemplating his hands and idly toying with a pen. If Jou hadn't known better he would have taken that look on Otogi's face to be sadness. "You don't sound like he makes you very happy." Otogi's eyes never left the pen. Jou was amazed at how different his face looked when he was serious. He was so used to seeing Otogi in one of his usual badass moods, ranging from cocky, to condescending to mischievous, or any variations thereof.

"Happy?" Jou looked at the other boy incredulously, "Who said anything about him making me happy? Its sex. Plain and simple. And hell; half the times I wanna rip his fuckin' throat out, but hey-who am I to say no to the great Seto Kaiba?" Without meaning to, Jou's fingers were wreaking havoc along the hem of his towel, fraying the terry cloth and pulling at the stitches.

Otogi sighed. "Yeah, who are you to say no." There was an undercurrent of vehemence in Otogi's voice that made Jou look up at him quizzically. "You're only human, aren't you?" Otogi finished quietly.

Jou stared at him. "Ryuuji?"

Otogi looked up, meeting Jou's eyes and beaming his old charming smile. "Oh, never mind. And hey, what's with the formality? You can use my first name if you'd like to, Jou."

Jou almost blushed in spite of himself. It had been a long time since anyone spoke with him this casually. Even Yugi, Honda, and Ryou, who were supposed to be his best friends. They were always so caught up in their own little dramas, he never wanted to intrude. And then there was Anzu, who always somehow gave him the urge to reflexively hit something. He grudgingly had to admit to himself that it was almost sort of **nice** to have someone to talk to. Even if that someone was Otogi Ryuuji, his long-time nemesis.

Jou was even more surprised when Otogi got out of his chair and came to join Jou on the floor, sighing as he did so. "You deserve better. I know Kaiba, and I know that he's a corporate snake. I guess what I meant when I said I couldn't picture the two of you together was, well, you just seem so... real. You actually live your life. I never got the chance to tell you, but I really respected you for what you did that day you lost our duel.

"All your friends were telling you to go back on your word, but you didn't. For your part, you seem to do the least proselytizing about friendship and honor of any of them, but you're the only one to really uphold any of those ideals. And I really am sorry about the whole dog-suit thing. Really."

Jou was nearly gaping. This was so unlike the Otogi he usually saw. Then a thought occurred to him. "We aren't 'together'. Like I said; it's sort of a mutually-using-each other thing."

Otogi glanced at Jou quickly, and then lowered his head again before murmuring, "You deserve better."

"What?!?" Jou's eyebrows show up into his shaggy blond bangs. "What on earth is that supposed to imply, Otogi?"

Jou could have sworn he saw Otogi blush. "It isn't implying anything. Just that I know Kaiba can be a total dipshit a lot of the time, and I don't think someone like you should have to deal with that, is all."

"'A lot of the time' doesn't quite cover it," Jou muttered. Then "And I don't know what you mean by 'someone like me', but lets get one thing strait: you don't know me, you don't know what kind of person I am, and you shouldn't be making any sort of judgments about me for exactly those reasons." He had to stop himself from flinching as he finished, reminding himself that this wasn't Seto he was talking to, and he didn't think Otogi would hit him for saying that.

Otogi caught the flinch, but didn't say anything. Instead, he sighed. "You're right, Jou. I **shouldn't** be making those judgments; that was presumptuous of me. Sorry..." he trailed into silence.

Jou heard the genuine apology in Otogi's voice, which surprised him. Then he felt slightly bad for snapping. He knew Otogi meant well, he just wasn't used to this side of the other boy. Otogi actually sounded like he gave a damn. "Ah, forget it." Jou muttered. Then, "Hey, look, the sleets letting up. I can leave now, if you like. Only about half a mile home, like I said."

Otogi looked up at the monitor, and then pushed himself off the floor, stretching stiffly. "You're right, it really is letting up. Oh wow, look at the time! It's almost eleven!" He reached a hand down to help Jou up off the floor, which Jou accepted after a couple of second's hesitation.

Jou handed Otogi his towel back, and was about to head for the door when Otogi said, "Hey, you live over on Kumori Street, don't you? I have to go that way to get home, anyway. Why don't I give you a lift?"

Jou looked at the monitor again. It was still sleeting lightly; nothing like before, but still not a fun setting to walk home in, either. He kept his back to Otogi when he answered. "Yeah, sure. Thanks."

Behind him, Otogi broke into a smile. "Great! My car's this way." He led the way out of the office and down a flight of stairs to the parking garage, which was empty except for an emerald green vintage mustang. Jou's eyes widened. Otogi saw this and laughed. "Nice, isn't it? I got it when Dice Monsters really started to take off. It's a '69, but drives like new, which is a good thing, because the roads are gonna be none to fun tonight." He drew a ring of keys from his pocket and fiddled with the passenger side lock before pulling the door open and motioning Jou inside.

Otogi started the engine and exited the garage, pulling out into the deserted street. The rest of the ride was in silence, only interrupted by Otogi, requesting directions from Jou who gave them quietly.

When they finally pulled up in front of his house, Jou made a move to get out, but Otogi stopped him. "Jou, look; I'm sorry I came off as kind of presumptuous before. I really didn't mean to. I know Kaiba, probably better than I would like to, and I know what a hassle he can be. If you ever need to, you can talk to me, even though I know you think of yourself as way to stubborn to even contemplate doing so." He laughed softly and then, while Jou was still looking at him in mild surprise, he leaned over and kissed Jou gently on the cheek before waving him off with a "Good night." And pulling away from the curb, leaving Jou looking bewilderedly after him, a hand raised unconsciously to his cheek.

TBC

A/N: The plot thickeneth!! I'd just like to note that I find it incredibly entertaining that my spell check wants to change Anzu's name to "Nazi". Heheh. Wow. Now theres poetic justice for you. Beware the Friendship Nazi!! And yeah, this is a weird take on the whole Jou/Otogi thing, I know, but hell, I'm writing them as presumably multi-dimensional characters, and I think Otogi showed a good introspective and remorseful streak at the end of DDM, which is what I'm working off here. Oh, and how does everyone like Otogi's car? Eheh. I have a thing for vintage cars; I couldn't resist. I chose a mustang for 'Togi because they are classically "British racing green", which matches his eyes. nod


	3. Snow

**Disclaimer:** Bishi sex, bishi damage, lemony goodness, naughty, naughty things. Cover your virgin eyes, kiddies. =.= Oh, and for those of you who need it all spelled out, here's the translation: Hot boys who are not mine doing really fun [oops] cough nasty things to each other, driving each other crazy [in more ways than one], making each other miserable; oh, and having mattressy [and then some] fun! If we have not yet established the fact that Yu Gi Oh! is not mine, than we need to have a little talk about how hallucinogens and anything perceived when using them is not real. ::sighs::

**Notes:** Wow, I'm getting really into this fic. I've never written angst or drama or like, pretty much anything of "substance", really, and anyone who knows me knows that I have an irrepressible gagging reflex that kicks in automatically when the word "romance" is mentioned. Oh, and long fics really annoy me sometimes. So in other words, this fic is everything I loathe balled into one! ...Yet I've been enjoying it... Weird... eh, it's all my Hikari's faults. Well, two of them, anyway. The third one has yet to be converted. Bwahahaahah!!! Headcase? Me? damn strait.

Jounouchi had gone to bed that night still thinking about Otogi, and how strange he had been acting. Then again, maybe it wasn't so strange. After all, hadn't it been Jou who had been against getting to know the other boy after the duel incident? He sighed at stared at his ceiling. Maybe it wasn't always a good thing to be as stubborn as he was. That was how this whole mess with Seto had started.

Kaiba had offered to give him a ride home from one of Yugi's parties, and one thing had led to another... Jou still had trouble figuring out at which point the arguing had stopped and the vicious kissing had begun. As far as he could tell, there wasn't much differentiation.

Jou had kind of figured that it would be a one-time thing. After all, it was just so strange; but then Seto has started calling him, and the trend had continued. In fact, it had been continuing for over four months now. Of course, Yugi and everyone had eventually gotten the idea that there was something between the two besides the usual taunts and retorts, but they never pushed the subject. Ryou seemed to be the only one among them who showed any real curiosity about it, but Jou had long since written that off as his compulsory caring nature.

But now Otogi? That was just odd. He had seemed genuinely interested in what was happening between Jou and Seto. _Wait_, Jou thought. _He couldn't be jealous, could he_? Then he laughed. Jealous? Otogi could have Seto. Jou would be glad if he would just take him away, and all his head case issues, too.

Jou rolled his eyes. He was just glad the bruise on his cheek had faded. Seto must be busy this week; Jou hadn't heard from him since that last rainy day, and he wasn't complaining, either. He was getting really tired of telling his friends that he was going out and getting into fights when in truth it was only Seto. "Only" being the operative word here.

Another thing he was getting tired of was putting up with Seto himself. Jou had always thought himself to have a strong inner strength and pride, but somehow around Seto, that feeling didn't kick in. He did feel like someone's puppy, or their lapdog. It made him feel so helpless sometimes that he wanted to scream. And that was probably just what Seto liked about him. Everyone knew Seto Kaiba was a total control freak, but Jou suspected that few knew as well as he did.

During the night, temperatures dropped still further, and when Jou woke up in the morning it was to a world covered in white. His room, warmed only by a pathetic little space-heater which was currently on its last legs, was freezing.

He hauled himself out of bed, flipping on the radio and tuning to the Domino City weather channel just in time to hear "... and you heard it, everyone! All Domino City schools are closed for the day"-

Jou switched off the radio and fell back onto his bed. A snow day! He wondered what Yugi-tachi would be doing today. Maybe he should give them a call and see if they were hanging out at the game shop later... his thoughts trailed off as he heard a crash issue forth from the kitchen below.

_Oh, shit_, he thought. His father hadn't been home when Otogi had dropped him off last night, which wasn't unusual. It was also not unusual for his father to stumble in sometime around now, staggering drunk, and in a towering rage.

Another crash, this time followed by a string of profanities. And Ryou always looked so shocked when Jou cursed. Hah!

After about ten minutes, the cursing and crashing seemed to have subsided slightly, and Jou made his way tentatively downstairs to the kitchen. As he had suspected, there was a litter of bottles and cans strewn across the floor, as well as muddy footprints and his father's jacket, which had a new rip in it, along with some new stains. Jou sighed.

He had just opened the refrigerator when his cell phone, which had been left on the kitchen table when he had come in, began to ring. This triggered another eruption of shouting from his father, who seemed to have collapsed on the couch in the living room.

"Jounouchi! What the fuck is that noise? 'F you don' turn that fuckin' thing off right now I'll"-

Jou hurriedly pressed the "answer" button and held the phone to his ear, trying to ignore the shouted threats issuing from the living room. "Hello?"

"Hey, puppy. Been awhile."

"Oh. Hi, Seto." Jou ducked as a bottle, thrown from the living room, narrowly missed him. "Shit!"

"You always sound so upset to hear from me, Jou." Jou knew better than to take the low tone of Seto's voice as being hurt.

"As much as I'd like to reinforce that belief, Seto, I'm a little distracted at the moment. My dad just got in and he's using me for target practice."

A throaty laugh and then a sigh. "Sounds like you need a distraction. How 'bout coming over to my place for the day? Mokuba's out till tomorrow at a friend's house. What do you say?"

Another bottle, more cursing. Jou sighed. "Shit. Fine. Alright, I'll come over. Just have a car come and get me. It would probably take three hours to get there in this snow if I walked."

Seto sounded smug when he said, "Alright, puppy, but you owe me." A click on the other end and the "call ended" sign flashed on the screen of Jou's cell. He sighed again; deeper this time, and went to find a jacket and brush his hair.

Jou was waiting on the steps of his apartment building when the limousine pulled up. He was glad that Seto seemed not to have wanted to come along to get him, and got into the heated interior gratefully.

The newly-ploughed roads were almost entirely empty, and they arrived at the Kaiba mansion in about five minutes This gave Jou more than enough time to realize what he had agreed to in going along with this, and then try and come up with a means of escape, which did not seem to be readily forthcoming. He swore under his breath for the remaining three minutes of the ride and only got out of the car after the chauffer had cleared his throat twice, standing beside the open door.

Seto answered the door wearing what Jou supposed was his version of casual, which still looked extremely expensive-as usual, and accented with a smirk. He slammed the door shut behind Jou and immediately pulled him into a bruising kiss, pressing him back against the door, albeit gentler than last time, but Jou still had to suppress a wince.

He let Seto explore his mouth for a moment longer before breaking away and murmuring, "Seto, can this wait? Please? I just woke up to my stupid drunken father throwing shit at me; I'm not exactly in the mood to have my clothes torn off at the moment."

Seto paused for a moment, his eyes flashing. "Then what did you expect me to do with you when you came over here, puppy? I didn't have you over for tea, and you know it. And now I'd really like to collect on that debt you owe me for sending my own personal limo"-

"Seto, dammit, stop." Jou pushed a smirking Seto off his chest where they were still leaning against the door. He headed for the living room, running a hand through his mussed hair.

Seto's eyes went colder. "What was that, puppy? You think you can tell me what to do, now?" Seto easily caught up with Jou and spun him around in a bruising grip. Jou gasped. "Because if you do," Seto hissed in his ear, "I think I'll be needing to instruct you otherwise. Get one thing straight, puppy; I make the rules here, not you." He gave Jou's arm a wrench, and Jou snarled, lunging at Seto the moment his grip had loosened.

Seto was faster, though. He backhanded Jou, sending him to the floor, blood welling up in a thin trail across his cheek from where Seto's nails had cut him. Jou could only glare up at the taller boy, who was now regarding him coldly, standing above him.

"Much better, puppy. Glad you've finally learned your place. Now are you going to get up and follow me to the bedroom, or am I going to have to get you a leash and collar?"

Jou felt his anger well up, but he shoved it away and got up slowly, running a hand along his cheek and looking at the red smear it left on his finger with contempt. Seto just smiled in mock sweetness and led him upstairs.

About twenty minutes later Jou found himself in the familiar position, flat on his back beneath Seto, trying to tell himself that he wanted this; which, in a way, was true. A part of him did, but at the same time, it still wasn't right. Jounouchi Katsuya was no one's toy and he knew it better than anyone... so why was he letting Kaiba do this again and again?

He bit his lip and arched his back, pressing up against Seto. Seto in turn had one hand in Jou's hair and the other around a bit of his nether-regions that seemed to be avidly disagreeing with the part of Jou's brain that was trying to scream about the wrongness of it all.

Seto put his arms around Jou, kissing him hard and biting his lips before running his tongue down Jou's neck. Jou could feel Seto's nails dig into his back again as they both spiraled upwards, breathing harder with every contact.

Jou could never understand how Seto kept so quiet during sex. It was another one of those little things that he listed as his pet peeves about Seto. Every time, he would make a promise to himself: not to scream, or moan, or cry out. And every time he would break that promise and kick himself for it later. He couldn't help hating Seto just that much more every time he saw that satisfied smirk on the other boy's face while Jou helplessly screamed and clawed at the bed sheets.

He arched upwards, moaning as he felt Seto release inside him, spilling into Seto's hand at the same time and hating himself more than the other boy, just for his own weakness.

As usual, Seto had him leave shortly afterwards, claiming that he needed the limo, and he was sure that Jou could find his own way home. Yet still, Jou was unsure as to why he had chosen this route home. Oh wait, no he wasn't. He knew exactly why he was walking this way, which led directly past Otogi's gaming store. He even knew why he wanted to walk by the damned place.

Otogi had actually cared. At least, that's what Jou wanted to let himself believe. After all, he had seemed pretty damned sincere, and Jou was pretty sure that, though he didn't know the other boy as well as Yugi-tachi, Otogi Ryuuji was not the type to screw around. He generally seemed to be pretty forthcoming and confident to Jou. Jou also knew that this was something that attracted him to the other boy.

So when he found himself on Otogi's game store's front step, he wasn't incredibly surprised.

The store was open, despite the heavy snows, and Jou pushed his way through the large double doors, glancing around to see if Otogi's office was open. It wasn't, so he proceeded through the second set of doors into the store itself.

Much to his relief, the place seemed to be deserted. There also seemed to be no sign of the store's owner, so Jou took a moment to get his bearings. The place was huge; much bigger than Yugi's grandpa's shop, but also more commercial and gaudy. Displays of Dungeon Dice Monsters were everywhere, as were those for Duel Monsters, and a wide array of other fad-games.

Jou was inspecting a pack of Duel Monster cards when a familiar voice sounded from the doorway behind him. "See anything you like?"

Jou turned around and looked at Otogi, who was dressed in his usual black and tight-fitting articles of near-clothing and whose body was slung into that catlike hip-shot pose, one hand on his hip. He was also smiling, which Jou found very comforting, in a strange way.

Smiling back sheepishly, Jou replied, "Not sure yet. Haven't had enough time to look."

Otogi nodded, coming over and straightening a display next to Jou. "Hm. Well, let me know if you want anything." He finished straightening and looked at Jou. "So what's up?"

Jou sighed, rolling his eyes and giving a short laugh. "Eh, well, you're probably gonna regret giving me the invitation, but remember last night when you said I could talk to you if I needed to... um..."

"Talk about Kaiba?" The smile was gone from Otogi's face, and his tilted eyes were narrowed slightly.

Jou nodded apologetically, looking at his feet and rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah. I'm sorry"-

"Oh, don't be," Otogi turned, motioning as he did so for Jou to follow, which he did. "I swear, that boy is such a damned head case. He treats people like his own personal pawns." Otogi opened the door to his office just a little too forcibly, causing some Dungeon Dice Monster action figures to fall off their little stands. He motioned for Jou to sit in the rolly dice chair and took a seat for himself on the desk. "I swear, one of these days, everyone he has the audacity to refer to as his friends are just gonna wake up and realize what a dick he is and leave. On that day, Jounouchi, I'm gonna be on the sidelines, laughing my ass off." He shuffled idly through some papers on his desk while Jou came up with words to formulate a reply.

"You sound like you're speaking from uh... experience?" Jou tested the last word, looking up at Otogi for the other boy's reaction.

"Experience? Oh, yeah, there was that. 'Bout a year ago, me and Kaiba had something going along the lines of what you two do now, if I may take the liberty of using this as an example? I know my knowledge is limited."

Jou was dumbstruck. Otogi had slept with Seto? Well; this was news. "So what happened?" Jou hoped he didn't sound too apologetic about the fact that anyone else had had to deal with Seto in the way he had.

"Oh well, I don't think it was as bad with me. At least, not if I may inquire as to how you got that lovely looking bit of color across your cheek there?"

Jou swore. "Oh shit, is it that bad?"

Otogi reached behind him, opening a drawer and extracting a mirror which he handed to Jou.

A nice bluish purple bruise had made its appearance beneath the welt, which was still encrusted in bits of dried blood. Jou reached a hand up to touch it and winced. This one was definitely worse than before.

Otogi gave him an apologetic look, accepting the mirror back and getting up to get a tissue. "At least tell me you gave him a good one back," Otogi gave Jou a half-grin over his shoulder while wetting the tissue at a sink in the corner. The grin quickly faded as Jou looked away, unable to meet Otogi's eyes.

Seeing this, Jou got off the chair with such ferocity that it nearly fell over. "Gods damn it!" he cursed, kicking at the floor. "I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me! I mean, around any one else, I'm totally confident. Its just, every time I'm around him I lose all my nerve, and there's nothing I can do..." he trailed off lamely and collapsed back onto the chair, still not meeting Otogi's eyes.

Otogi sighed deeply and came back over to where Jou was sitting, fidgeting like mad and muttering curses under his breath. Otogi reached out and gently tilted Jou's face upwards so he was able to dab at the cut with the wet washcloth, starting a little at Jou's wince when the wet tissue touched the sensitive skin.

Otogi kept talking, just to give Jou the distraction. "Yeah, I guess I was lucky. He just got tired of me one day and told me to fuck myself. Not like I needed the invitation." He smiled as he saw Jou's face relax slightly at the crack. "Anyway, I was glad. He was so controlling. We weren't even dating or anything, but he acted like I was his property or something, when all we really did was fuck. That really pissed me off. That, and how he always used to kick me out right after sex. That was just downright low." He pulled his hand away from Jou's cheek, regarding the cut critically. "You want some antiseptic or something for that?"

Jou reached up a hand to touch the cut and flinched. "Nah, that's alright. I've had worse. I'll just have to tell everyone I got into another fight."

Otogi looked at him with something close to accusation in his stare. "Why do you let him do this? You're a good person, Jou. You really are; and you deserve better."

Jou laughed bitterly. "Hah. Yeah, I know. Believe me. And I've tried. He just doesn't want to let me go yet, and you know Seto. If he doesn't want to do something, he won't. At this point, there's really nothing I can do about it. I guess I'll just have to wait and eventually he'll get tired of me, like he did with you."

Otogi rolled his eyes, both hands on his hips. "I must have really misjudged you, Jounouchi. I always respected you because I thought you could stand up for yourself and what you believe in more than anyone else I knew. But I guess I understand. Seto Kaiba is, luckily, one of a kind. I know how hard to deal with that boy is. I just hope you don't get yourself into something that's over your head."

Jou stood up and followed Otogi to the office door. "Thanks, Otogi. I guess," He paused, looking for the right words, "I guess its just nice to have someone who has a vague idea of what I'm talking about." He smiled at the other boy. "Oh, and thanks for this," he indicated his cheek."

Otogi shrugged, grinning. "No problem on both accounts. And I'm serious; if you see anything in the shop you like, just let me know. I'll give you the 'Kaiba is a bastard' discount."

Jou laughed with him, following Otogi into the foyer where they both stood in front of the big double doors. "If I see anything I like, huh."

Otogi nodded, opening the door for him. "Anything at all, just let me know."

A moment's hesitation before Jou moved towards him, wrapping one arm around Otogi's waist, and lifting his chin up with the other hand. Otogi's eyes were already closed when Jou kissed him; very gently, running a hand up through Otogi's black hair and toying with some stray strands at the base of his neck. He ran his tongue along Otogi's bottom lip, eliciting a shiver, and then pulled back. "Alright, then." He smiled, turning to the door. "Anything I like. I'll remember that."

And then he was gone.

TBC

**A/N:** BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH--ow.


	4. Ice

**Disclaimer:** Do I honestly have to keep doing this? Oh wait, I almost forgot. Sometime in the last two days since I finished the last chapter, I have acquired a Kaiba-esque sum of money, inherited by a recently deceased relative who I knew nothing about until now due to the fact that they were, in fact, a mutant and as such locked in an attic and kept a family secret until they were mauled by a pack of rabid dust bunnies and upon discovery of said mutant's last will and testament, all mysteriously existent (what? I'm as curious about how a mutant locked in an attic made a billion dollars as you are.) and extensive funds were left to me, and I used them to buy all the rights to Yu Gi Oh!, so yeah, I own it now. Yup. And yes, I am aware that that was probably the longest run-on sentence in the history of the English language. Oh, and just to cover my ass, if you believed any of that, give me your address so I can find and maul you and your stupidity, okay? Oh yeah, and Blah Blah Blah YAOI Blah Blah LEMON Blah.

**A/N:** Any yaoi citrusyness in this chapter is all for Koneko Shido. Go read her review of Ch.3 and you'll see why. For some reason I had a really hard time with this chapter. I don't know why, maybe it was because I wasn't really in the mood to write when I started it, which means I shouldn't have, but I felt the need to update, so I did anyway. Bad idea. Three days and about seven re-writes, three overhauls, and five proofreads later here it is... usually I just sit down and write these things...

**Note:** for future reference, all cars in this fic are Japanese-style. i.e. driver sits on the right side, and drives on the left side of the road. laughs at memory of my mom's attempt at driving in Ireland

Wow... I have so many inspirations lately. I get almost all my inspiration from songs. So no, these aren't song-fics, they're just um... loosely based on/inspired by songs. I don't know if anyone's heard of The Rasmus (yes, Koneko, yes, Miko, I know you guys have), but the lead singer's voice actually sounds like Bakky's in the dub, and their song "In the Shadows" might as well just be a duet between Ryou and Bakura. F-f-falling is my Jounouchi-anthem... it goes on. And then there's AFI. Thanks to Koneko and her "Scream Like You Mean It", they were added to my unofficial YGO soundtrack. Listen to "Silver and Cold". Its sooooo beautiful, and it's the ultimate Yami/Hikari anthem. And yeah, I'm ranting. Oops. My point, anyway, is that I have plans for YGO fics for "In the Shadows", along with some other Rasmus stuff, maybe some AFI-inspired ones, and a Trigun Wolfwood/Legato inspired by the song "Asleep in the Chapel" by Thurday (that one will be a tragedy and a half. Look out, kiddies.)..

The next day at school, Otogi showed no signs of remembering the kiss until Jou glanced over at him in their shared Biology class and caught Otogi watching him. Their eyes met for a brief second before Otogi turned back to his work, but not before Jou had caught the smallest flicker of a grin. Jou smiled to himself and went back to his worksheet, toying idly with his pencil.

When the final bell rang, Jou headed to his locker, only to find an extremely smug-looking Otogi Ryuuji leaning against it. Jou smiled inwardly to himself, but kept a straight face as he approached.

"Excuse me, but that's my locker you're leanin' against." He said, trying to feign indignation.

"Oh good," Otogi smirked. "I was beginning to think Ryou had given me the wrong number."

Jou smiled as Otogi moved out of the way, allowing him to spin the dial and shove his books inside. "Yeah, well, I woulda been here sooner, but my teacher for Japanese Lit held me back to talk about those spectacular grades I've been pulling this semester." He rolled his eyes. Then he paused. "Wait. Ryou?! You asked Ryou for my locker number?"

Otogi raised an elegant eyebrow. "Uh, yeah? Is there something wrong with that?"

Jou shook his head, slamming the locker shut and pushing his bangs out of his eyes, sighing. "Nah. I guess not." _Just one more thing for him to ask me about later_, Jou added silently. He knew that Ryou didn't fully buy his "I got into a fight" stories pertaining to his bruises. He didn't mind Ryou's caring inquisitions, though; in fact, he generally thought of Ryou as being really sweet. One of these days he was going to have to explain things to the other boy in a little more detail. Ryou deserved it.

"Anyway," Otogi grinned, "I was gonna ask if you wanted to come hang out at the shop this afternoon. It's a Friday, so we'll have enough staff members there to run things; I'll be able to slack off for the afternoon."

Jou was about to reply when his cell phone rang. Otogi saw the look that passed over Jou's features and shook his head. "Don't answer it, Jou."

Ring.

Jou looked at the flashing blue screen.

"Don't answer it."

Ring.

He looked at Seto's name, where it appeared on the caller id.

"He's using you, Jou. Just turn your damned phone off and forget about him."

Ring.

Jou shook his head. "It isn't that easy. If I do, he'll only come looking for me. You should know he won't back down when there's something he wants. He'll come and find me, and it'll only be worse if he finds me with you."

Ring.

Otogi just shook his head, turning to leave, waving a hand idly. "Yeah. You're right. Alright, then. I'll see you later."

"Otogi"-

Ring.

"Figure it out, Jou. If you need me, you know where to find me." With that, Otogi walked away, thumbs hooked into his pockets, hips swaying.

Jou sighed and glared at the screen.

Ring.

He pushed the "answer" button and held the phone to his ear. "Yeah. Hi, Seto."

"What the hell took you so long, puppy?" Seto sounded distinctly irritated.

"I had a meeting with my Japanese Lit teacher." Alright, so not a complete lie.

"Well since I know it couldn't possibly have been about your spectacular grading achievements, you must be failing again, am I right?"

Jou had to resist the urge to take out his animosity on his cell phone. "No, Seto. As a matter of fact, I'm getting a D. Now are you going to tell me what the fuck it is you want from me, or can we end this now so I can go home?"

Seto breathed a laugh. "The answer is in the question, puppy. And besides, what do I ever want from you? I'm sending my driver to pick you up in the usual place."

"Call Ended" flashed on the screen.

The combined snow and freezing rain of the past few days had merged with the consistently dropping temperatures, making the entirety of Domino City something like a giant Popsicle.

The ice glittered where it hung in stalactites from lamp posts and tree branches, and it shone blindingly where it reflected the thin, chilly sunlight.

Jou had been almost glad when the driver pulled up in the dark blue limo, scooting into the heated interior and breathing warm air into his freezing hands.

Now he was less happy, being pinned to the bed by one of Seto's hands, while the other conducted extensive research of his annoyingly responsive nether-regions. Alright, so the still [barely] coherent bits of his brain were less than happy. Those parts of him upon which the explorations were being conducted begged to differ. It was the typical, run-of-the-mill conundrum of Jou's life at present.

Seto kissed him hard, pausing in his explorations to run a hand through Jou's hair, pulling his head back for better access. Jou moaned in spite of himself.

Seto began to fiddle with the button on his own pants, licking a trail up Jou's neck as he did so and making the other boy shiver before nipping hard at the sensitive skin just below his jawbone.

"Ahh"- Jou arched his back and groped for Seto's hand, trying to lead it back to where it might do some good.

A ringing broke through the fog of Jou's consciousness. Seto swore loudly and shifted off of Jou, who flopped back, shut his eyes, and sighed. He could try to sneak out now, but he was hampered by the fact that his pants were somewhere on the other side of the room.

Seto was snapping into the phone, irritation prevalent in his voice.

"There was a what?! Cant you imbeciles handle it?"

A pause.

"They want to talk to me? Yes, I know I'm the Chief Executive, but I don't know what that has to do with anything. I'm busy right now, can't this wait?"

Another pause.

"Okay, alright, fine. But this had better be all cleared up by the time I get down there, and whoever did this had better hope that I never, ever find out who they are." He slammed the cell phone closed and glared at it.

Jou opened an eye. "What was that about?" He had to try really hard not to sound mocking.

"That was one of my security-level employees, and apparently there was a bomb-threat called in forty minutes ago, and the bomb-squad insists I be there, even though they've cleared the building and haven't found a damn thing." He re-buttoned his pants and adjusted the collar on his shirt. "I'll call you later. You know where the door is." He turned to leave.

Jou thought about this for a second, and then sat up, sudden desperation and defiance surging through him. "I'm busy later."

Seto turned to face him. "Excuse me?" His voice was low and dangerous.

Jou took a deep breath. "I said I'm busy later." He was surprised at the acid tone of his own voice. "You can't just expect me to come running to your beck and call." The words were out of his mouth before he realized it, and he immediately flinched back against the headboard, anticipating the blow that came a moment later.

It was probably the stress that Seto was already feeling due to the bomb-threat, coupled with that of not getting to screw Jounouchi into the mattress, but the retort was the final thread breaking.

The slap snapped Jou's head back against the wood of the headboard, making spots dance across his vision, the jarring crack echoing in his ears. By the time he could focus again, Seto was already gone.

He leaned forward, holding a hand to his mouth and spitting the coppery tang of blood into his palm. He could feel a gash along the inside of his left cheek where his teeth must have broken the skin, and his left eye stung and watered. He tentatively reached behind his head and winced at the drop of wetness that came away on his fingers. This was gonna be a fun one to explain.

Moving carefully, trying to ignore the throbbing protests mounted by his head, he looked around until he found his pants and shirt, pulling them on with some effort, and the heading out the door.

He figured he would just go home. After all, in comparison to his comment earlier about having had a meeting with his teacher, the claim to being busy later had been a straight-out lie.

He didn't even know why he had said it. It had been a moment of defiance, maybe just an attempt to prove to himself that he wasn't really as much under Seto's control as Otogi thought. But it had only gotten him slapped; as usual.

He swore under his breath and made his way down the icy drive, once on the sidewalk making a half-assed attempt to cover the bloody spot in his hair before heading for home. He didn't get far.

He had gone about a block and a half before a green vintage Mustang pulled up beside him, Otogi leaning over to yell out the passenger-side window over the motor.

"Need a lift?"

Jou started, looking at Otogi, who in turn grinned back at him deviously.

He paused, for a moment considering not wanting Otogi to see the products of Seto's aggravation, but gave up as a gust of icy wind blew down the street, ruffling his hair and raising chills over his entire body.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks." He pulled open the door and got in, pausing as he reached behind him for the seatbelt. "Wait. How did you know where I was?"

Otogi laughed loudly. "Hah! Aren't we the presumptuous one? How do you even know I was out looking for you in the first place, hmmm?"

Jou felt himself flush red. "Uh, yeah, good point. Whoops." He smiled sheepishly. "Well, thanks anyway."

Otogi let out another snicker. "Actually, I was looking for you."

Jou looked at him incredulously. "You were?"

Otogi didn't take his eyes off the road, but Jou saw a familiar mischievous gleam pass through them as he answered. "Yup. Lets just say that I got an anonymous tip about a certain CEO having to leave his house abruptly, due to a call from some poor, hapless security employee down at KaibaCorp about a bomb scare. Since I knew you'd be at Kaiba's, I decided that you would probably be wanting a ride home, is all."

Jou stared at Otogi wide-eyed. "You! You called in the bomb-threat, didn't you!?" he let out a burst of incredulous laughter.

Otogi shrugged. "Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies."

Jou snickered. "Ohhh, you should have seen the look on his face when he got that call! He was furious."

Otogi smiled wickedly, glancing over at Jou. The smile disappeared immediately upon catching sight of Jou's face. The car skidded a moment on the icy road, and then came to an abrupt halt at the nearest curb.

"What the hell is that?" Otogi demanded, taking Jou's face gently between slender hands and running a thumb over the sensitive abrasions.

Jou turned away from the fluttering fingers and penetrating stare. "What the hell is what?" It was less of a question and more of a dare for Otogi to continue, coupled with a warning of the consequences, should he choose to. He did.

"What do you mean 'What the hell is what'?! You've got a bruise around your left eye, and there's blood on your cheek, and is that blood in your hair? Holy shit, Jou, what the hell did he do to you?" Otogi ran his delicate fingers through Jou's hair, smoothing it down, and trying to inspect the wound.

Jou shifted uncomfortably, averting his eyes. He was definitely not used to this much physical contact; especially from Otogi, but at the same time, he was being so gentle, it was kind of comforting. "He was a little aggravated, that's all. It's no big deal. Really, Otogi. Just drop me off at home, okay?" From the corner of his eye, Jou saw Otogi sigh and drop his hands to his lap.

Otogi nodded, but suddenly he stopped, and a look of horror crossed his face. "Wait. Did he do this after the phone call? Oh gods, Jou, this is my fault! Holy shit, how could I have been so stupid!?" He stared at Jou wide-eyed, a hand over his mouth.

Jou shook his head bitterly. "Oh, don't worry about it. He woulda gotten around to this sooner or later, anyway. It's always only a matter of time with him. It's not your fault."

Otogi shook his head vigorously. "No! Oh, gods Jou, I am so, so sorry!" He looked into his lap, eyes wide and sad. "I'll just take you home, then." He reached up and started to turn the key in the ignition, but was stopped by Jou's hand on his arm.

"Wait; stop. Otogi, I mean it. Dammit, listen to me! He would have done this anyway. It was only because I shot my mouth off while he was pissed. You'd think I'd know better by now," he smiled bitterly at Otogi, who still looked wide-eyed and slightly sickened by himself. "In fact, I should be thanking you," Jou continued. "I mean, if it wasn't for you, I'd still be in there with him. I'm sorta... well, I guess I'm just sorta surprised that anyone would go through that much trouble for me." He laughed. "A bomb threat? Shit, Otogi, you're really lucky he doesn't know it was you. Still, I wish you coulda seen his face. It was priceless."

Otogi smiled a little in spite of himself, but said quietly, "Yeah, but look what he did to your face."

Jou shrugged. "Ahhh, like I said, he woulda gotten around to it sooner or later. You know me; I just can't ever keep my trap shut, can I?"

Otogi rolled his eyes. "That still doesn't validate"- but he was cut short by Jou's mouth on his own, and Jou's hands making idle trails down his arms and chest, circling around his waist and pulling him closer so both boys were poised precariously over the gear-shift.

Otogi's eyes went wide with surprise for a moment, but then he relaxed, sighing into the kiss. He felt Jou's mouth move into an involuntary smile against his own, and raised a hand to tilt Jou's chin gently upwards before breaking away and kissing a trail along his jawbone and down the graceful curve of his neck. In the back recesses of his mind, Otogi noted how nice it was that this part of town was so sparsely populated, as he expected they were making quite a scene.

Jou sighed and arched his neck upwards, giving Otogi more to work with, which was quickly taken advantage of. He felt feathery kisses placed along his collarbones and back up his neck where teeth nibbled at his ear, making him laugh breathily. Turning his face to kiss Otogi deeply, he let one of his hands slip from around the other boy's waist and travel up his shirt, running a hand over the fluttering muscles above the waistband of Otogi's black leather pants. Otogi moaned and pressed up against Jou's traveling hand, making small breathy noises. Then he opened his eyes and swore.

Jou looked at him in surprise. "Um, are you okay?"

Otogi rolled his eyes. "Shit. I had totally forgotten! I have a meeting with one of the guys from the company working on tech advancements for Dungeon Dice Monsters at four thirty! Oh no!!"

Jou sat back in his seat, straitening his shirt. "What time is it now?" he looked around, trying to find the car clock.

Otogi pointed to the dash board. "Four fifteen."

Jou gasped. "Oh no! Are you gonna make it?"

Otogi started the engine, still cursing under his breath. "Yeah, I can make it if I take you home right now and speed all the way back. Damn, Jou. I'm so sorry..."

Jou snickered. "Well, at least one of us has a job and some responsibilities. Heh. I could probably learn from your example. Maybe then Seto wouldn't give me so much shit."

Otogi rolled his eyes. "That asshole. He's really got something coming to him one of these days."

They pulled up in front of Jou's apartment building and Jou made to leave, but Otogi caught hold of him and planted a firm kiss on his lips. "I'll see ya Monday, 'kay?" He gave Jou a Cheshire cat grin.

Jou grinned back. "Yup. See you Monday." He nodded once, and then got out of the car, fishing in his pocket for the key before letting himself in.

Otogi watched him until the door had closed, and then he pulled away from the curb, still swearing at the dashboard clock.

TBC

**Post Script:** well, that was an anticlimax. I don't really like this chapter much. The ideas got so scrambled around in my head, banging them out on my laptop felt really awkward. I hope the next chapter is more... graceful. Argh. I hate not being satisfied with my writing. What? Anal-retentive? Me? Whatever do you mean? Oh, and I should also probably figger out how long I wanna make this, and how much more I wanna beat around the bush. Probably not much longer. I don't wanna drag things out.


	5. Wind

**Disclaimer:** Hate to break it to everyone, but that story about the loaded mutant relative was a lie. And I still don't own Yu Gi Oh! so stop trying to sue me, you greedy bastards. However, for a limited time only, you can make a [hopefully large] donation to the Hoshi-chan fund. In return, I promise not to light you on fire, spork you, tie your shoelaces to a rabid wombat, close your head in a refrigerator, or give you brown modeling clay and tell you its chocolate. Just contact me via email. I take cash, debit transfers, and checks. Thank you! (yes, that was a joke, kiddies. Put those weapons away.)

**Notes/ Warnings:** Alright, kiddies. Listen up. This chapter unleashes hell, so don't read it if you've got anything against bishi sex, or extreme violence, okay? Because I mean it: This is your final warning. And yes, in case you hadn't noticed, this fic bastardizes Kaiba. In fact, if I wasn't writing it, I wouldn't touch it. I once read a GW fic that bastardized Heero and it actually made me feel like shit for three straight weeks. I don't know what effect this will have, but seriously, it isn't for the weak of heart, or the narrow-minded when it comes to Kaiba. Don't get me wrong, he's one of my favorite Yu Gi Oh characters. I really like him(I can be in a different room and still be able to tell you when he's on the screen during any one of the theme songs), and I think him and Jou are adorable together in pretty much any fic I've read aside from this one. This fic is written for everyone who is sick of all the fluffy mush, and want a change of scene. I'm not gonna apologize for anything, because you have now been duly warned.

The wind swirled up and down the street, blowing Jounouchi's hair into his eyes. He pushed it out for what seemed to be the millionth time, and squinted into the gathering gloom at the numbers on the mailboxes lined up along the street. 1174, 1176, 1178... 1180. There it was.

He glanced once more up and down the street, not quite knowing what he was nervous about, but still feeling uncomfortably jumpy, nevertheless. Finally, he gave one more last-ditch effort at controlling his hair, and strode up the short walk. He knocked three times, paused, knocked twice, and then since he still wasn't sure, gave the door a thorough pounding until it opened rather abruptly, his knuckles nearly grazing Otogi's face.

"Yeep!" Otogi dodged to the side.

"Oh, shit! I'm sorry!" Jou blushed, grinning sheepishly. "Hi."

Otogi smiled back and moved out of the way, beckoning Jou to follow him inside. "Yo. Wanna come in? Damn, but its cold out here." He pulled his sweater closer to himself and shut the door behind Jou. "So what brings you here on a Saturday night, anyway? Come to think of it, how did you even know where here was, anyway?" he plunked himself down on the couch. Jou followed suit, crossing his legs in front of himself.

"Oh, Ryou told me." He grinned at Otogi's look of surprise. "What? It was revenge for your asking him my locker number the other day." He snickered for a moment and then grew silent. "And as for what I'm doing here, well, I'm sorry, but my dad is in kind of a bad mood right now, and I couldn't really think of anywhere else to go. I would have asked Ryou, but he would just have gotten worried about me, and I don't want that."

"So you expect me not to worry?" Otogi raised an eyebrow skeptically.

Jou sighed, looking down at his hands. "Nah, I guess I can't really tell you what to do. I just don't wanna burden you with my shit, you know? My dad can be kind of a dick when he wants to be."

Otogi nodded. "Yeah, I can relate to that. That's pretty much one of the main reasons I got my own place as soon as the game store took off. Just to get away. But hey, we don't need to get into all that. You want a drink or something?"

"Water would be fine." Jou leaned back against the velvety fabric of the sofa, enjoying the comforting warmth. The bruises left by Kaiba the day before were still at an unhappy stage, causing him to wince if he moved certain ways. He closed his eyes, and began to doze but was jolted awake rather suddenly by Otogi, holding out a glass to him. "Thanks."

"No problem." Otogi sat down again, his own glass in hand. "You tired? You look pretty wiped. There's an extra room upstairs if you wanna get some rest."

Jou took a sip of water before answering. "Nah, that's alright. I can wait." He took another sip and sat, gazing vacantly around the room.

"Alright, what's on your mind?" It wasn't even so much of a question as a demand. Jou looked up, startled.

"Huh?"

"You look like something's bugging you. What are you thinking about?" Otogi raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Jou looked up into Otogi's eyes. "What a dipshit he is."

Otogi's mouth quirked in a half smile for a second before both boys leaned forward, lips meeting. As the kiss deepened, Jou pulled Otogi toward him, getting the other boy straddled across his lap, with his hands on Otogi's waist. From there he let his hands roam up Otogi's shirt, caressing the pale skin and nipping at his lips. Their hips ground together as Otogi pushed Jou back so his back was pressed into the soft fabric of the couch, letting him run his tongue along Jou's earlobe.

Jou let his head fall back, giving Otogi more to work with, which was quickly taken advantage of. He felt Otogi's mouth on his lips, neck, and collarbone, before slender fingers began the delicate procedure of removing his shirt, one button at a time. He ran his hands up the back of Otogi's shirt, tracing trails along his spine and enjoying the shivers this inspired.

Otogi gently kissed a trail down Jou's collarbone until he reached the last three remaining buttons. These he slowly undid with his teeth.

"You've done that before." Jou smirked, his nails grazing the skin just below the waist of Otogi's pants.

"And so what if I have?" Otogi muttered teasingly into Jou's navel, making him jump.

"Hey, you don't see me complaining."

Otogi had pushed Jou, so he was now lying on his back on the couch, with Otogi still straddling his hips. He gave Jou another deep kiss before sliding down and undoing the button on Jou's pants, taking his time with the zipper. He nipped at the delicate skin of Jou's neck, sucking hard and enjoying the feeling of nails raising gooseflesh on his back.

He sat gave a couple of suggestive tugs at Jou's pants, which Jou caught onto and proceeded to wriggle out of them, discarding them on the floor. He then took a moment to enjoy the fact that Jou was not wearing underwear.

Ducking his head down, he took Jou into his mouth, licking a trail up and down before sucking hard at the tip, exciting whimpers and gasps as Jou's hands tangled in his hair. He hummed, and the hands grew more frantic. Jou arched his back, thrusting his hips upward. The only thing he was aware of was Otogi's warm mouth around him, licking, sucking, nipping, and driving him crazy.

He gasped a cry as Otogi began to move faster, rocking his hips, trying to increase the sensation. Otogi sucked hard at the tip and Jou spilled into his mouth, collapsing onto the couch and gasping. "You are really, really good at that," he managed, closing his eyes. He felt Otogi's weight shift off the couch, and a moment later felt a blanket spread over him.

Otogi sat down on the floor in front of the couch and brushed a few stray strands of hair off Jou's forehead. "Yeah, well, I guess you could say I've had some practice with it."

Jou opened an eye and looked at him, rolling so he was facing Otogi. "Oh yeah? Hm, well, like I said; you don't see me complaining." He paused a moment. "You sure you don't want anything in return?" he grinned suggestively.

Otogi smiled at him. "Oh believe me, I'll be back to collect. But right now, you should get some sleep. You look exhausted." He kissed Jou gently on the lips and stood up. "My bedroom is down the hall, first door on the left if you need anything. Are you alright sleeping here? You can sleep with me if you like."

Jou's eyes were already closed, but he shook his head. "Mmmnah... I'm okay here. Next time, though, 'kay?"

"Sure." Otogi went towards the hall, flipping the light switch off as he did, and heading off to brush his teeth.

The next morning, Jou woke up late. He looked around till he found a clock on top of a cabinet that said the time was 11:27 am. Then he retrieved his pants, from where they had fallen to the floor, and after pulling them on, went in search of Otogi.

It was only after he had gone around the house once that he noticed the note on the end table next to the couch.

Jou-

Had to leave for work, but didn't want to wake you. Eat whatever you can find in the fridge, I'll be back around 5pm, so if I don't catch you, I'll see you tomorrow at school.

-Otogi

The scribbled time on the note said it had been left around 8 that morning.

Jou was just pondering what he should do when his cell phone, still in his left jeans pocket, began to ring. He swore. He swore again when he saw the caller ID. He really wanted to just get rid of this thing. Or change the number. But he knew that neither of those would keep Seto from finding him. He pushed the "talk" button and held the phone to his ear.

"Hi, Seto."

"Hey puppy. Where are you?"

Jou's heart did an acrobatic maneuver in his chest. "What do you mean, 'where am I'?" he said, trying to sound as derisive as possible.

"I mean that I went to that horrible apartment you live in, and you weren't there. Your father even slammed the door in my face. I am not in a good mood, Jounouchi."

Jou shut his eyes and leaned into the comforting softness of the couch. "I spent the night at a friend's house, alright? My dad was drunk and looking for an excuse to pick a fight with me, so I left."

"Why didn't you call me, puppy? You know I'm always glad to have you over." Seto did a good job of making the hurt tone in his voice also come off as mocking. Jou restrained his gagging reflex.

"Because, Seto, if I had called you, I would have needed a new place to go after forty minutes or so. And that would have just been inconvenient."

Seto snorted. "Huh. Well, aren't you the smart one this morning. And you're wrong, anyway. I probably would have let you stay at least an hour. Now shut up and stop whining. Where are you? I can have my driver pick you up in fifteen minutes if you're close."

Jou suppressed the stemming panic that was churning in the pit of his stomach. "Uh, just have him pick me up at my place in half an hour. I gotta change clothes, anyway."

"That's a waste," Seto purred. "Why do you need clean clothes? You're only going to be taking them off, anyway."

Jou rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever, Seto. I just want clean clothes, alright? If you wanna see me that bad, have him pick me up at my place. Otherwise, you can just forget it."

There was silence for a moment, and then Seto spoke, a new, dangerous edge clearly evident in his tone. "Half an hour and no longer. And you better watch out, puppy. You know I always get what I want, so don't you dare pull any of that high and mighty shit with me, got it? I'm holding the proverbial cards here."

"See you in half an hour, Seto."

"You got that right, puppy."

The line disconnected, and Jou shoved the phone back into his pocket, growling at it as he did so. "The fucking nerve of him! Treating me like I'm his property. Bloody bastard." He picked up his jacket and buttoned his shirt, heading for the door.

The car was waiting for him when Jou exited the building. The wind was blowing even harder than it had the day before, and by the time he had gotten inside, his hair, which he has just brushed, was a complete mess again. A wild frenzy of fine blond strands fell into his eyes, and he spent the short ride glaring intently at them.

When the reached the Kaiba mansion, he knocked twice before letting himself in at a lack of answer.

Kaiba was in the living room reading, but he put his book down as Jou entered. "About damn time, puppy."

"Yeah, I'm ecstatic to see you too." Jou rolled his eyes.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "That sarcasm I hear in your voice? I keep telling you, puppy; learn some manners, or you're gonna get yourself in trouble one day."

Jou glared at him, but sat down next to Seto, arms crossed over his chest. "Yeah, you keep tellin' me that," he muttered, but was cut short by Seto yanking him forward by his collar into a bruising kiss.

It wasn't that Seto was a bad kisser-he wasn't; it was just the manner in which he presented himself that bothered Jou. Like he didn't care if Jou got anything out of it or not, which was exactly true, and Jou knew it. This pissed him off even more. But he kissed back anyway, not knowing what else to do.

After a minute or two, Seto straightened, taking the hem of Jou's shirt and pulling it up and over Jou's head, discarding it on the floor. Jou made a mental note to do laundry when he got home.

Seto continued to kiss Jou, hands firmly gripping Jou's waist with a bruising strength. Jou hated the dark finger prints Kaiba's hands always left on the delicate skin of his abdomen.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice Seto's lack of attention to his neck until Seto spoke.

"What the fuck is that?"

Jou's eyes flew open. "What the fuck is what?"

Seto's voice was like ice. Only, colder. "That mark on the back of your neck. It's a bite mark, but I didn't have time to leave one on Friday, and this looks new." He grabbed Jou's hair and used it to wrench is head back, glaring into Jou's eyes with a piercing blue stare. Jou felt his blood run cold. "You've been screwing around, haven't you, you little shit."

Jou winced. Seto insulted him regularly, but he had never sounded this... dangerous. "Seto, I"-

"I don't want to hear any of your stupid excuses. So tell me, dog; who've you been fucking behind my back, hm?" his hand was still buried in Jou's hair, and he gave it a wrench, jerking Jou's head painfully and making the bruises already there throb. Then something surged inside him. He was already in this deep; might was well go all the way.

"Why the fuck should I tell you?" he spat into Seto's face. "Would it matter? Somehow I doubt it. You're gonna beat the shit outta me anyway, so why the hell should I tell you anything that you don't already know?"

Seto let go of Jou's hair, shoving his head away and standing up, glaring at the smaller boy. "How dare you speak that way to me, you _whore_!" he spat the word out like a bad taste. He reached down, grabbing Jou's collar again, and pulling him roughly to his feet. "You think I'm gonna beat the shit out of you, you don't know the meaning of the words."

Jou didn't have time to react before he was thrown down again, landing hard on the glass coffee table. It shattered under his weight, and he collapsed onto a carpet full of glass shards. He felt them pierce through the fabric of his shirt and send burning stabs of pain through his back. The side of his face that was already bruised from Friday had hit the table first, and now he felt warm liquid flowing freely down his face, blurring his vision with stinging red. He coughed, wining in the same motion as he felt the glass shards dig deeper into his back, and tasting blood on his tongue.

Through the haze, he felt himself being pulled up yet again. He staggered a moment, regaining his balance, and giving Seto a menacing glare. Seto only laughed; a short, derisive sound, and slapped Jou hard across the face. "You little slut," he spat. "You think you're so great? That you don't need me? Well _fine_. You can rot in hell for all I care." He slapped Jou again, across the other cheek.

Jou let his head turn with the force of the blow, but stood his ground. "You sadistic asshole," he ground out through clenched teeth. "You only see me as property. Well guess what, you sick bastard? You don't own me; I can screw around with whoever the hell I want, and there's nothing you can do about it."

With that, he drew himself up as well as he could, and hit Seto in the stomach with his fist.

Seto doubled over, but only for a minute. He slapped Jou again across the face, harder this time. Jou felt the cut from Friday re-open and start to ooze blood.

This was forgotten when Seto's fist made contact with Jou's abdomen, sending him crashing into a book-case and hitting his ribs on the hard wood. Jou gasped in pain and crumpled to the floor; black spots dancing in front of his eyes. Seto kicked him hard in the side, making him collapse limply, chest heaving. Hot tears were streaming down his face, mingling with the blood already flowing there, and stinging in the cuts. Jou didn't care.

He contracted into a fetal position against the wall and just lay there. Seto watched him for a minute in disgust before turning to leave. "You know where the door is." And with that, he was gone.

Jou lay there, concentrating on breathing carefully. He hoped he didn't have any broken ribs. That would really suck.

The tears were making his face smart, and the glass in his back was beginning to really burn, so he was really grateful when he felt himself begin to slip into unconsciousness.

TBC

**A/N**: I told you so.


	6. Still

Disclaimer: Still don't own it. After last chapter, I think it's a unanimous vote of "whew, that's a good thing, ainnit?"

Notes: I always do this. I have a thought so ingrained in my thick skull that I don't realize no one else knows what I'm thinking. Zolac no Miko knows what I'm talking about. Poor thing. Anyway, my point is, I forgot to mention this last chapter: this fic is gonna be seven chapters long. So this is the second to last chapter; enjoy it, kiddies. Oh, and thanks, Koneko-chan! You're a great reviewer for me when I'm disgruntled at 4 am. Probably because that means its 3pm for you.

SPECIAL NOTE: thanks, Kat, for giving me the heads up!! And everyone, I'm sorry! This is the real chapter 6!! ...I don't know what the hell happened. The upload on the first try must have screwed up, or maybe it was my fault. Who knows. Anyway, thanks! Enjoy the real deal everyone.

Warnings: If you're reading this, it most likely means that you either aren't bothered by the Kaiba-bastardization, the bishi sex, the bishi damage/abuse, and whatever else goes on in this fic, and more power to ya, even though you are a truly bizarre individual. I would hate this fic if I were reading it. The other option you may be is like me: you start reading a fic, hate it, but can't be at peace until you've finished it. If this is you, well, that sucks, donnit? Believe me, I can commiserate.

When Jou woke up, it was already getting dark. He felt woozy and stiff, and when he tried to move, it seemed like every nerve ending in his body was petitioning against it.

"That sadistic- owwww..." His curse was cut off by a whole new set of angry nerves as he tried to sit up against the wall and remembered the glass in his back. "Shit."

It took another ten minutes of sitting still and concentrating on being upright for Jou to attempt standing up. This, he found to be actually not that bad, all things considered. It was mostly his upper body that had sustained the damage.

He wasn't sure where Seto was, but he didn't think he cared to find out, so he got up carefully and began to slowly make his way to the door.

The air outside was absolutely still and cold. By the time he had gotten halfway down the drive, Jou was walking pretty normally again. Given the number of fights he'd been in, this wasn't really so bad in the scheme of things. At least he had gotten that one blow in before Seto had really come down on him. He smiled to himself and winced as pain shot through his face. He was beginning to feel a bit light headed again, probably from combined lack of food, anemia, and whatever else Seto had managed to accomplish.

He was about two and a half blocks down the street when a wave of nausea and dizziness swept over him and he felt the sudden desire to sit down, which he did; partially of his own volition, partially not.

He sat, leaning against a rock wall with his head between his knees for about five minutes. He was glad no one was around to see this. Luckily, this was the suburbs, and all the dog-walkers were usually inside before dark.

Finally, he fumbled around in his pocket for his cell phone, flipped it open, and scrolled down until he found Otogi's number. He pressed "send". It rang three times before Otogi answered.

"Hello?"

"Otogi? Hi... This is Jou. Could you pick me up? I'm really sorry..."

Otogi's voice changed in a split second from offhand and impersonal to worried and apprehensive. "Jou? Where are you? Are you alright? What's going on? Your voice sounds strange."

Jou coughed a couple of times, bringing the taste of blood back into his mouth. "Uh, yeah, that might be because I could really use some water. I'm on Kaze Street, about two blocks from the Kaiba mansion.

Otogi said two words before hanging up. "That _shit_."

Jou flipped his cell shut and leaned tentatively back against the rock wall to wait. After about three seconds of this, he decided that sitting up was best. He was very glad when he saw the Mustang's headlights round the corner and come toward him, screeching to a halt. The driver's side door flew open, and Otogi was kneeling beside him before he had time to think.

"Gods, Jou. You're a mess." He brushed some hair out of Jou's face that had been stuck there by dried blood. Jou flinched back at the touch and Otogi gently lifted Jou's chin to meet his eyes. "It's alright, Jou. He isn't gonna ever do this to you again. I promise. Shit; I can't believe you let him get _away_ with this!"

Jou smiled weakly and tried to revert to something like his old humor. "It wasn't all that bad. I got a good one in, myself. ...'course that only aggravated him more..."

Otogi shook his head. "You are some kinda stupid, you know that? Alright, get in the car. You're coming to my place and I'll get you cleaned up and see if you need to go to the hospital. You think he broke anything?"

Jou looked down at himself. His shirt was ripped from the splintered glass and wood of the coffee table, and spattered with his own blood. He gingerly prodded his ribs with a finger for a moment. "Nope. Don't think so, anyway. I think its all just bruises."

Otogi rolled his eyes. "Yeah, 'just' being the operative word here. Now get in the car." He stood up and reached a hand down to help Jou up, and then led the way to the car.

Once inside, Jou felt it best to lean away from the seat back, which Otogi quickly noticed. "Is something wrong with your back- oh, gods!"

"Yeah, I'm gonna need your help getting the glass out," Jou muttered.

Otogi almost swerved into the oncoming lane. "The _what_?!?! What in all hell did he _do_ to you, Jounouchi?!"

Jou looked out the window. "He pushed me into a glass coffee table. Or, rather, I fell on it after he hit me."

The look on Otogi's face was frightening.

When they got to the house, Otogi got out first and tried to help Jou to the door, but was waved away. "I can walk just fine." He grumbled.

Otogi shook his head, sighing. "Stubborn."

Jou sat on the floor with Otogi behind him, gently picking at the dried bloody fabric of his shirt. When they had finally gotten it off, Otogi gasped. "Shit, Jou; you must have really hit that table." Jou said nothing.

Otogi got up and left the room. When he came back a minute later he had a bowl of warm water, a pair of tweezers, and a washcloth.

Jou sat stiff as a board, eyes closed, as Otogi first dabbed off his face, streaked with dried tears and blood. When he had finished, Otogi leaned forward and gently kissed him; only maintaining contact for a second or two before moving to sit behind him again and beginning his work with the tweezers.

"You really should go to the hospital, you know," Otogi said quietly as he picked out the first piece.

Jou hissed in a breath but shook his head. "No. I don't want to go. They'd ask too many-Ah!-questions." He gasped as Otogi extricated the glass.

"Yeah, I know. And I respect your not wanting to have to deal with that, which is why I'm doing this. But don't think that I'll _keep_ doing this. You have to get away from him. You have to make sure he'll never do this to you again." He began work on the second piece.

Jou clenched his teeth. "Yeah, I know. But I don't think you have anything to worry about there. He told me before he left that he didn't want anything to do with me ever again. I sure as hell hope he meant it. He sounded like he did." Jou yawned.

Otogi paused in removing a piece of glass. "You must be tired. You wanna lie down? I can do this with you lying down if you can stand to lie on your stomach."

Jou nodded. "Yeah, but could I get something to eat first? I haven't eaten anything since yesterday."

"Oh! That's right!" Otogi dropped the tweezers and stood up again. Disappearing, and then returning a few minutes later with some toast and a cup of what seemed to be tea. "Here," he said, placing both down in front of Jou. "I don't really have much in my fridge right now, but will this be enough until I can find something decent?"

Jou began attacking the toast, nodding.

Otogi sat down again. "Alright, then." And he went back to the tedious process of extricating the glass.

Two hours later, the last piece of glass had been removed, and Jou's back cleaned off and bandaged. Two pieces of glass and a number of splinters had also been removed from the side of his face that had hit the table as well. After a bit of poking and prodding that had caused Jou to create some interesting new curses, it had been determined that aside from bruised ribs, that was the extent of the damage.

"You're damn lucky, you know," Otogi told him, swabbing at the side of Jou's face with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol.

Jou winced away from Otogi's hand, the alcohol stinging in his open cuts. "Explain this logic."

Otogi ignored Jou's attempts at avoiding his cotton ball and lifted Jou's chin with a fingertip, kissing him. When he pulled back, he used Jou's temporary disorientation to take another swipe with the swab. "You're lucky he didn't put you in the hospital; that you weren't hurt worse than you are. This is Seto Kaiba we're talking about here. And also," he added as an afterthought, "That you have me taking care of you." He grinned at Jou's scowl.

Jou narrowed his eyes. "I'm not so sure about the last part. That was a pretty low stunt just now." He couldn't help but smirk at Otogi's smug expression. "But yeah, I guess you're right. He's Seto Kaiba, and I suppose there are a lot worse things he coulda done. Not that I'm validating any of this." He waved a hand idly at his numerous abrasions before yawning widely.

Otogi stood up. "You wanna get some sleep? Come on." He reached down and gave Jou a hand standing up. Then he led the way to his room. "You can sleep in my bed." He paused. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the police about this? He committed a pretty serious offense."

Jou followed, shaking his head. "Nah. All I want is to have done with it all; with him. Well, that and a really long nap." He lay down gingerly on Otogi's bed, careful to stay off his back, even though his bruised ribs presented an only slightly better alternative.

"Alright." Otogi sat down in a chair beside the bed, smoothing a few stray hairs out of Jou's eyes. "But promise me you'll never let anything like this happen again. Promise me, Jou."

Jou's eyes were already closed, but he nodded. "I promise. Believe me; I don't want anything to do with him ever again."

Otogi watched him until he had fallen asleep, and then he went into the living room and sat down on the couch to think. At around 3 o'clock in the morning, he finally let himself fall asleep, curled up on the couch.

Jou woke up early. He could tell by the way the sun was slanting in the window, and the lack of traffic activity outside in the street.

He carefully rolled himself off the bed and made his way to the door. He paused before he got there, however, seeing a dark green shirt with a note pinned on it folded neatly on a chair by the bed. The note read:

-Jou

I left to take care of a few things. I'll be back later. Not working today. Keep the shirt.

-Otogi

The note had been left about an hour earlier.

Jou un-pinned the note and pulled on the shirt, glad that it was a little too big and fit loosely on his back. Then he went in search of a phone.

Otogi slipped around a column, glancing at the receptionist's desk. She was on the phone, as usual, and filing her nails, looking very, very bored. Good; this was very good.

He snuck around the side of the room, and waited until the receptionist was looking the other way before hurriedly slipping past her desk and heading for the stairs. At least there was one good thing about his history with Kaiba; he knew where the CEO's office was.

He climbed the stairs as quietly as possible, careful not to alert any security personnel, and finally stopped at the fifth floor, changing his walk from a slink to a stride as he neared Kaiba's office door.

He leaned against the door a moment, listening, and when he heard no sounds of activity issuing from within, he knocked twice before letting himself in and shutting the door behind him, leaning back against it.

Kaiba was sitting at his desk facing the door, scribbling on some papers. His pen stopped mid-scribble when he saw Otogi.

"Usually when a person knocks, it is to imply that they wish to be polite, which, I may assure you, barging into someone's private office unannounced is not." Kaiba's tone was icy, and he placed his pen down on his desk, leaning back and folding his hands in his lap.

"Oh, skip it, Kaiba. You know I was never one to be polite. And anyway, you're one to talk." Otogi's tone matched Kaiba's in coldness, and his green eyes flashed. He crossed his arms over his chest.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "Before you start accusing me of things, will you at least tell my why you felt the need to sneak into my office? To what do I owe the honor? I take it my receptionist doesn't know you're here."

Otogi stared levelly at Kaiba. "No, as a matter of fact, she doesn't know. But that's beside the point. I'm here because I need to talk to you about something; a business matter, of sorts."

"A business matter? My, my, Otogi; you certainly have changed in the past year since you and I ceased our little trysts. You sound so _cold_." There was a warning edge to Kaiba's voice that Otogi recognized as a danger sign, but he ignored it.

"I'm not here to reminisce, Kaiba. I'm here to tell you to leave Jounichi Katsuya the hell alone. Don't call him, don't talk to him, don't look at him, don't even _think_ about him; because if you do, I will go straight to the police and he will tell them what you did. He'll show them the scars and he'll tell them all the details. And I know you, Kaiba; I know how bad for your company it would be for you to be brought up on charges like those. Now do we have an accord?" Otogi leaned back against the door in a deceptively relaxed position. In truth, his whole body was tensed in apprehension, waiting for Kaiba's reply.

Kaiba stared at Otogi a minute, taking in the information and weighing his options. Finally he spoke. "Otogi Ryuuji; come on, you wouldn't actually pull a stunt like that. Not with me. You don't have the guts. Why don't you come over here and relax; we can have some fun, and then talk some more about this little 'deal' of yours."

Otogi pushed himself off the door he had been leaning on, and walked over to Kaiba's desk, hips swaying seductively. He placed one knee on the desk-top, using the other leg to push himself so he was leaning forward, supporting himself with both hands. "Listen to me, you sadistic snake," he hissed, eyes narrowed dangerously. "How _dare_ you even _think_ of propositioning me? I know that all you want is to get out of this free, and maybe screw me senseless as a bonus prize, but let me tell you something: Don't you _ever_ tell me that I don't have the guts to do something, because that might just be all the initiative I need to get off my ass and do it. I'm offering you one chance: either take it, and leave Jou alone for good, or leave it and quit wasting my time so I can get out of this office, go down to my car, and call the police on your sorry ass. Now I'll ask you again: Do. We. Have. A. Deal?"

Kaiba's eyes narrowed and the blue of his irises flashed dangerously. "Fine." He growled. "At least now I know who that little slut was screwing around with. I should have known it was you, Ryuuji. You're more of a whore than he is." He spat the last sentence, leaning in close to Otogi's face.

Otogi didn't move; he didn't even flinch. "I'll ignore that last comment out of the goodness of my heart. I'm glad we have a deal, Kaiba, and I'll see you at the next gaming convention."

With that, he slid off the desk and turned, letting himself out of the office without a backward glance.

He strolled past the receptionist, hands in his pockets. She stared at him in confusion for a moment before going back to her nails.

Alright, so maybe he had taken some creative liberties by threatening to go to the police, but he was pretty damn sure that he had accomplished his objective. He allowed himself a grim smile.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ryou. This is Jounouchi."

There was a slight pause on the other end, then, "Jou! Hi! How are you? What's up?"

Jou took a deep breath. "I need to talk to you. Can you pick me up? I'm at Otogi's."

"Uh, yeah," Ryou sounded more than a little confused. "Yeah, sure. I'll be there in half an hour."

Jou closed his eyes, smiling faintly and pushing his bangs out of his eyes. "Great. Thanks. See you then."

He hung up and allowed himself a moment of nerves before finding some paper and a pen and leaving Otogi a note telling him where he was. He wondered what those "things" Otogi had written about needing to do were.

TBC

A/N: The bit with the glass-extrication was for Zolac no Miko, a wonderful and now homicidal Hikari. runs

I know I said that there will be seven chapters; however, the last part may end up being long enough for two chapters, in which case, this fic will have eight, instead. Just a heads up. I really wanna do well with the last two, and I'm especially looking forward to writing ch.7, as it will have one of my all-time favorite characters in it.

I know this chapter is going up fast (for all you FFN and AFFN readers, anyway), and that is because I started it about ten minutes after I finished ch.5. I'm re-hooked.


	7. Storm

Dedication: this whole fic has been for Koneko Shido. Beware the Pear. And Timmy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Gi Oh! any more now than I did twenty-four hours ago when I wrote the _last_ disclaimer. However, in the past twenty-four hours I have acquired a number of interesting YGO cards in a package from Koneko, because she is a wonderful, wonderful Hikari/person. I have no idea what I'll do with them, but damn, they're pretty. And one of them is from Bakura's deck!!! happy dance 

Warnings: You still here? You still reading? Great. Now I must cast one final warning. THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS FULL-FLEDGED SADO-MASOCHISM. Translation: Bishi's with sharp-edged objects having bloody-goodness. Don't like? Don't read. And don't say I didn't warn you. If you get traumatized, my cause does not cover therapy charges. Enjoy, kiddies. This is the big one.

Notes: Heheh. I got Zolac no Miko to swear at me. Muhahah. waves at ZNM don't worry, dear. I'm having _lots_ of fun over here in the Naughty Closet. dodges implements of Hikari-Doom I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed so far- the ego boosting rocks. And for those of you who _haven't_, well go on, then. It isn't that hard. I promise. See that little "leave review" button down there? Yeah. That one. Click it. Now write in the little box and press "leave review". It isn't painful. I promise. And even if it were, anyone still reading this fic has _gotta_ have a good sado-masochistic streak in em. No excuses, people. =.=

Ryou arrived just as he had said, in half an hour. Jou made sure Otogi's door was locked before doing his best to make sure the bruises and abrasions on his face were properly covered. Then he walked down the drive and got into Ryou's car; careful not to make eye-contact with the other boy.

Ryou for his turn said nothing about Jou's appearance. He just smiled in greeting and pulled away from the curb.

After about three minutes of driving in silence, the white-haired boy glanced upwards out of the windshield. "It looks like it may storm later."

Jou looked out the window. The air was utterly still; not a leaf moved on any of the trees they passed. The air blowing in through the crack at the top of his window was chilly, but nothing like the past week; it had definitely gotten warmer, and humidity hung in the air. Overhead, dark clouds built, one above the other, creating an ominous gloom, even as early as it still was. "Yeah, you're probably right." He waited a beat, watching scenery pass. "Ryou, I"-

"It's alright, Jou. You can wait till we get back to my place. I'll be able to give you my full attention, then."

Jou nodded. "Alright. Thanks."

The rode in silence for a few more minutes before Jou began to get twitchy. "So, how's Yami Bakura? I haven't seen him since he got his own body."

Ryou looked thoughtful a moment. "He's alright. He's doing about as well as you can expect a malevolent spirit to be after being locked up for five thousand years, and having been a tomb-robber before that. He's... finding his own ways to adjust."

Jou quirked an eyebrow. "Should I be worried?"

Ryou smiled his distant smile, still watching the road over the steering wheel. "Mm. Maybe; but he doesn't leave the apartment too much. I think the modernization is kind of a shock to him,"

"Yeah, I understand why," Jou nodded. "Must be quite a change from ancient Egypt."

Ryou gazed ahead at the road. "I feel sorry for him," His voice was quieter than usual. "There just isn't really anything I can do for him. He's got to figure things out for himself." He paused a second. "That, and he isn't exactly forthcoming when it comes to asking assistance with anything."

Jou rolled his eyes "Yeah that sounds like him."

"Well, anyway, we're here." Ryou pulled up alongside the curb in front of a row of neatly aligned apartments.

They both got out and Ryou locked the doors, and then led Jou up the walk to the door, which he held open. They took the elevator to the seventh floor and Ryou produced the key and let them in, calling as he did, "Bakura? I'm back. Jou's here."

Jou looked around. "Brilliant." A raspy voice called from an adjoining room. Jou couldn't tell if it had been sarcastic, or simply a statement.

Ryou sighed. "I'm sorry. He must be in one of his worse moods. Anyway, would you like some tea or something? We can go sit in the living room. It's just through there." He motioned to where the voice had issued from.

"Um, no tea, thanks." Jou followed Ryou into the living room.

The living room was dark, but Jou could just make out Bakura, draped over the sofa watching television with the sound off. Every couple of seconds he would change the channel, so the pictures flashed by in unrecognizable succession. Once in awhile he would pause on one channel for slightly longer, stare unblinkingly, the pictures reflecting in his eyes, and then flip the channel. He looked up for a second when they entered, and then back to the television.

"What do you want, Hikari?" Bakura's sounded bored; he didn't avert his eyes from the flashing screen.

"I'd like to sit in here, Bakura. You can use the television in my room, if you like." Ryou's voice was quiet, as usual, but Jou could tell that he was used to this sort of occasion.

Quicker than Jou could follow, Bakura stood up, tossing Ryou the remote in a fluid motion, and stretching catlike before walking past them and out of the room. As he left, Jou thought he caught a reflective gleam in the Yami's eye, like a cat's eyes at night. Jou shivered.

"Man... Your Yami has always given me the willies, Ryou." He followed Ryou into the room, perching on an overstuffed chair opposite the couch where Ryou sat.

Ryou switched off the TV and looked back at the doorway that Bakura had left from. "He used to make me nervous as well, until I realized that back in Egypt, even if it was five-thousand years ago, he was still human, and still is, at least to some degree. He just uses the advantage created by his run-in with the Sennen Ring to his advantage by letting it intimidate people. But this is beside the point. I believe there was something you wanted to talk to me about, Jou."

Jou was caught slightly off his guard. He took a deep breath. "Um... yeah. I guess, I just thought you deserved to know that for the past few months me and Seto've been kinda... screwing around, I guess. I know you probably guessed something was up, so I thought I should just tell you. You're a good friend, you deserve it."

Ryou smiled faintly, but the smile faded quickly, and he said, "And the bruises?"

Jou looked away. He just couldn't face Ryou's eyes when he was talking about this. "They're from Seto. So are the cuts on my face. And on my back, but you can't see those."

Something like anger flickered over Ryou's placid face, but only a distant sadness remained. "I see. I suspected it was something like that, but I didn't want to pry. I figured you would overcome it in your own time and my getting involve would only aggravate things. Am I right?"

Jou smiled reassuringly at his friend. "Yeah, Ryou. You're probably right. It would have been dangerous to get between me and Seto. And yes, I did deal with it on my own. Thanks."

From the hallway beyond the living room, Bakura listened. He remembered who Seto Kaiba was from the duels awhile back, when he had still been living in Ryou's body. Kaiba had always... intrigued him.

He sat down on the floor next to the living room door and leaned his head back, listening to Jou tell Ryou the details of the past few months. He decided that he thought Jounouchi was weak; this bothered him slightly, but he didn't dwell on it.

After about an hour, he heard the two boys get up and start toward the door. He quietly got up and headed down the hall to Ryou's room, flipping on the TV and setting it on mute.

Ryou and Jou were in the kitchen when the door bell rang. Ryou pushed the buzzer. "Who is it?"

"Otogi. Can I come up?"

Ryou pushed a button next to the buzzer. "Yeah, sure. You know the place, right?"

"Yup. Thanks."

A minute or two later the door opened and Otogi walked in. He stood in the doorway a moment before Jou walked over to him, slipped an arm around his waist, and kissed him deeply.

Jou heard a squeak and turned around momentarily; Ryou was smiling one of his rare, genuine smiles, but he was also beet red. Then he turned back to Otogi to murmur against his cheek.

"I told him everything."

Otogi smiled at Ryou over Jou's shoulder. "I kinda figured that. Now do you have any other business here, or can I take you home where there are less people to blush at what I plan on doing to you?"

Ryou blushed redder and turned away, busying himself with filling a kettle and putting some water on to boil for tea.

Jou snickered. "Yeah, sure. Lets go back to your place." He kissed Otogi on the cheek, twining his fingers together with the taller boy's. "Hey, Ryou, I think we're gonna take off. That okay with you?" He grinned at the white-haired boy's fumbling with a tea mug.

"Alright, then." Ryou said, seemingly having regained control over his blushing mechanism. "I'll see you later then, Jou. Will you two be at school tomorrow? Yugi and everyone asked about you today."

Jou thought for a second. "Yeah, I should be. I'll just tell them I got into another fight or something. Shit, that's getting old, isn't it? Oh well. I'll see you, then." He turned to leave.

"Jou." Ryou's voice was quiet, but serious. Jou turned around. "Thanks for telling me everything. I'm glad you'll trust me."

Jou let go of Otogi's hand and walked back to Ryou, pulling him into a fast, awkward hug. "I'm glad I can too. See you tomorrow, Ryou."

As soon as the elevator doors had closed behind them, Otogi pulled Jou to him, burying a hand in the blond hair and kissing him hard. Jou moaned, rising on tip-toe to kiss Otogi back, his hands traveling up the back of the taller boy's shirt.

The elevator dinged.

Otogi and Jou turned to the opening doors and were faced with an elderly couple, both wearing shocked expressions. They jumped to one side as the two boys exited the elevator, Otogi's hand in Jou's back pocket, both of them trying desperately not to burst into hysterical laughter.

They made it back to Otogi's apartment after two near-crashes, both brought on by Jou practically climbing into Otogi's lap while he was driving.

Once they were inside, with the door shut and locked behind them, Jou jumped on Otogi, wrapping his legs around his waist. After a brief moment of Otogi regaining his balance, Jou felt arms around him, supporting him, as their kisses deepened.

They fumbled their way to Otogi's bedroom, bumping into walls and doorframes, and knocking over a lamp on the way. Then they collapsed on the bed, Jou moaning into Otogi's mouth as Otogi straddled him, letting the bits of their nether-regions still constricted by jeans brush against each other.

Jou lifted his head, nibbling at Otogi's neck as his fingers toyed with the buttons on Otogi's shirt, undoing them slowly, one by one. Otogi sighed and shifted his head aside, giving Jou more access and allowing his shirt to be slid off his shoulders and discarded on the floor.

"Hikari; I'm going out."

Ryou nearly dropped the mug he was holding. Jou and Otogi had left about three minutes earlier, and he had just poured the hot water. "Bakura! I didn't hear you come in. You're going out? Where are you going?"

"That's no concern of yours, Hikari." Bakura spared Ryou a glance on his way to the door. "Don't wait up."

The door slammed shut behind him and Ryou stood, just watching it for a second before turning back to his tea, retrieving the sugar from a cabinet.

Bakura strode quickly down the sidewalk. If "strode" was the right word. He tended to move like he was stalking something; probably a trait carried over from his life five-thousand years before.

He knew this part of town pretty well, and he knew where the building was that he was looking for. It was conveniently located about a mile and a half away, and he got there in forty minutes.

He walked right in the front entrance, going up to the reception desk where the receptionist sat, filing her nails and staring vacantly at the computer screen before her.

"Where is Seto Kaiba's office?" Bakura leaned forward against the desk, giving the receptionist his most penetrating stare from six inches. The woman paled.

"I'm sorry, sir, but that information is privileged. Do you have an appointment?" The woman was a professional. She had to fight to keep her voice level, but managed nonetheless.

Bakura straitened, toying with something buckled to the back of his belt. "No, I don't have an appointment, but I think you'll find that I create my _own_ privileges." He smiled, showing her his teeth, which were unnervingly pointed and gleaming white. His eyes flashed deep mahogany that almost resembled red, if in the right light. He had the knack of making _any_ light the right light.

"Fifth floor, suite 176."

"Good girl." Bakura gave her a cordial nod. "And don't bother calling security. I'm not an assassin. Or a salesman." He added the last bit on afterthought.

With that he turned, and brushed by the desk and to the elevators, selecting the button with "5" on it. When the elevator opened, he walked down the long corridor, counting down the numbers. He stopped in front of the door marked "176" and turned the handle without hesitation, letting himself into the dim interior.

Kaiba was sitting at his computer desk when Bakura entered, and he looked up sharply at the intrusion. A flicker of surprise flashed through his eyes, but he suppressed it just as quickly. "Bakura. What do you want?"

Bakura smiled lazily. "Oh, I don't know. I was just sitting at home watching television, and all of a sudden I got the idea that you might feel like some company."

Kaiba stared unblinkingly back into the red-brown gaze. "Did you."

Bakura gave him his most feral grin, and then slunk over to where the CEO was sitting in his black leather desk chair. Kaiba crossed his arms over his chest and maintained unwavering eye-contact with the grinning yami.

Bakura leaned down, bending forward so his whole body was stretched catlike over the CEO, but staying just out of contact. He placed a pale hand on the back of Kaiba's chair, next to his head, and slowly turned the chair so Kaiba was faced away from the desk. He then slid one leg downwards through one armrest, following suit with the other and ending up straddling Kaiba.

He kept both hands gripping the back of Kaiba's chair on either side of his head, still watching the azure eyes for any sign of discomfort. Every so often a flicker of something that felt like fear to Bakura would show itself there, and he would relish it; basking in the refection of himself in those eyes and the hints of fear given off by the powerful CEO of KaibaCorp.

He sat back, resting on Kaiba's lap and leaning upwards to make a trail with his tongue leading from just under the boy's ear to where his shoulder met the base of his neck. He felt the muscles tense beneath his mouth, and then smiled against the other's pale skin as he felt hands grasping his rear, pulling him closer. He moved his groin over Kaiba's, feeling the tense and release of the nerves against his lips.

"Ah, ah; not that easy, pet." He murmured into Kaiba's neck, reaching around to the back of his tight black jeans and flipping a strap aside to produce his silver dagger. It had been buckled to his belt, carried on the inside of the back of his jeans. Now he drew it out and pulled away from Kaiba's neck, watching the response in the boy's eyes.

"You're going to kill me." Kaiba's voice was level, but there was a tremor of apprehension that made Bakura grind his hips down into Kaiba's as reward for. Kaiba's eyes went half-lidded for a moment as his own body responded, meeting Bakura's and letting the collective warmth pass between them.

Bakura smiled. "Oh no, pet. Why would I want to do that when I have so many other amusing things I'd like to do with you?"

"I'm not your 'pet'", Kaiba growled, reaching for the fabric of Bakura's shirt and trying to pull him closer.

Bakura obliged by leaning forward so his warm breath played against Kaiba's lips without touching. "That's what you think," he whispered, flicking out his tongue to run it along Kaiba's bottom lip.

Kaiba's mouth opened slightly, his hands tightening on Bakura's waist.

In turn, Bakura's hand moved quickly; the dagger rose and darted, slashing down across the boy's cerulean silk shirt. A long slash opened to mark the trail of the silver blade, the edges stained deep red where he blood was welling up in a fine line across Kaiba's smooth chest. The CEO gasped in spite of himself.

"I think you'll find," Bakura whispered, leaning in to dart his tongue up to edge of Kaiba's ear, blowing a warm breath there, "that there are many, many more fun things to do with a good knife than just killing someone."

He bent his head down, licking a slow trail up Kaiba's chest, lapping up the cooling red droplets.

Outside, the storm broke.

Winter thunder crashed outside. Rain began to fall in sheets.

Jou kissed a trail down Otogi's neck and onwards down his chest. He swirled his tongue around Otogi's nipples, grazing them with his teeth and feeling the other boy's back arch upwards beneath him.

He pulled off his own shirt before letting Otogi pull him down again for a searing kiss, electric shivers traveling the length of his spine. With clumsy fingertips he undid Otogi's jeans, breaking the kiss to slide his body down, running his lips the length of Otogi's abdomen. He paused just above the denim waistband, breathing warmth onto the sensitive skin. Then he pulled them down, running his tongue up and down Otogi's length, taking his time and closing his eyes; enjoying their mutual happiness.

Otogi arched his hips upward, thrusting himself into Jou's mouth. Jou obliged for a moment, sucking hard, and flicking his tongue over the tip. Otogi gasped softly, his hands playing in the fine gold strands of Jou's hair.

Then Jou straitened, kneeling on either side of Otogi's hips, and bent to kiss him softly before unbuttoning the fly on his own jeans and twisting out of them. Otogi smiled faintly and reached a hand out to run a finger along Jou's warmth. Then he reached behind him to the nightstand and withdrew a tube of lubricant. Squeezing a little onto his fingers, he smoothed it over Jou, smiling wider at the look of surprise this instigated.

"I like it better this way," he muttered. "But don't you dare go telling anyone I said that or there'll be hell to pay." And then he groaned as Jou pushed a finger into him, adding another and the scissoring them. A third was soon added, and then they were all removed leaving Otogi with an empty feeling.

Jou snickered, bending low to kiss Otogi's bellybutton and pull the other boy's pants the rest of the way down, flipping them to the floor with an elegant flick of his wrist. "Don't worry, I won't. Besides, if it ever comes up in conversation, we can just say that it was your caring nature taking over and saving me the trouble of having sex lying on my back full of cuts." He flipped his hair teasingly and pulled Otogi to sit in his lap, positioning, and then sliding into him, waiting a moment for Otogi to adjust before giving the first push upward.

Otogi's head fell forward onto Jou's shoulder, the curve of his neck against Jou's lips. Jou closed his eyes and nuzzled the soft skin, settling into a rhythm and enjoying the gasps and moans that issued from Otogi's parted lips, warm against his bare shoulder.

Outside, the sky grew darker and the rain fell harder.

The lightning flickered outside Kaiba's office window and Kaiba saw it reflect in the blade Bakura held, poised over him. Bakura ground their hips together, making Kaiba breath faster and clutch at his waist. He felt Kaiba's fingers exploring the waist of his low-cut jeans and let the dagger glide again, this time across Kaiba's collarbone. He bent his head, lapping like a kitten and then raising his it so his own eyes met Kaiba's. His tongue flicked out, licking a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth but purposefully leaving a smear across his lips. He bent and kissed Kaiba, pressing their rigid bodies together and letting the boy taste his own blood on the yami's lips before their tongues entwined.

Below their hungry mouths, Bakura slashed again with the dagger; the gleaming silk fell to ribbons beneath its caress, new red accenting the frayed edges. Kaiba moaned into the kiss; half in pain, half in demand for more.

Bakura pulled back, slowly running his tongue along both bottom and top lips, savoring both the mingled tastes of blood and Kaiba's kiss and the need he had created in the boy, as well as his pain-turned-pleasure. Then he slowly stood, bringing first one leg and then the other back through the arm rests of Kaiba's chair.

Standing before the CEO he slowly pulled off his shirt; then he unbuckled the clasp on his belt, keeping Kaiba's eyes on his own as he discarded it on the floor. His slender fingers unbuttoned the jeans one button at a time and then those, too slid to the floor. Kaiba's lips parted and his eyes grew heavy-lidded as he watched Bakura move. The Tomb Robber's hips swayed as the pulled off the jeans, and the curves of his body moved with the grace of a snake.

He bent and hooked a finger inside Kaiba's collar, pulling him upwards. The knife had been long-since dropped to the floor, and Bakura had both hands free to tear through the remaining buttons on the tall boy's tattered shirt.

Kaiba's hands set to work exploring all the curves of Bakura's body, toying with his hair and running his nails down the yami's back and over all the bare skin below.

Bakura moved gracefully beneath the probing touch, unzipping Kaiba's pants and slipping both hands inside, pushing the fabric downwards and following it to the floor.

He took Kaiba into his mouth once, and then stood to face him, twitching an eyebrow upwards before pushing him roughly to the floor. Kaiba gasped, the wind momentarily knocked out of him. Then his whole body arched upwards as Bakura entered him, pressing hard and listening to the groan of pain.

"You ass," Kaiba managed to gasp out.

Bakura smiled darkly, giving Kaiba a flash of fang. "You know you like it. Now, shut up and scream for me." And with that, he thrust into Kaiba hard; making the boy's back arch, a strangled cry issuing from his throat.

"Harder, dammit!" Kaiba twisted beneath the Tomb Robber, trying to get him to hit the sweet spot inside him.

"I hardly think you're in any position to be making demands," Bakura rasped, thrusting again, harder this time, and making Kaiba scream. He decided he like that effect, and repeated the action, making Kaiba claw at the carpet; the wounds on his chest re-opening from the strain and pearling thick red droplets along the fine criss-crossed lines. Bakura bent and licked them up again, hungrily, his head falling back as he continued to push into Kaiba.

A rumble of thunder harmonized with Kaiba's cries as the wind whipped around the building, rain driving in torrents against the tinted glass.

Jou began to see stars dance across his vision and he gasped into Otogi's hair. He let one hand stray down to grasp the other boy firmly, and began to move his hand in a gliding rhythm made easier by the slickness he found there.

Otogi buried his face in Jou's shoulder as he cried out in release, collapsing against the warm skin of Jou's chest as the final thrusts brought a warmth spilling out within him.

Jou allowed himself to collapse back on the bed, gasping and shaking a Otogi slid away and then came to lie beside him, their sweat mingling along with their breaths as Jou lifted his head to kiss Otogi softly.

Otogi responded to the kiss, brushing unruly bangs from Jou's face with slender fingers and breathing a trail of tiny kisses away from his mouth, up the curve of his cheek before lying back down, taking the smaller boy into his arms and pulling the blanket over them both.

Bakura grasped Kaiba's heat, moving his hand up and down in a jerking motion. Kaiba arched up against him and Bakura rewarded him with a hard kiss, tugging at the boy's lips with tapered canines. He moved his hand faster, enjoying the cries of pleasure as he continued his pattern of rough thrusts, feeling his own climax nearing.

He grasped the knife handle where it lay nearby and drew the razor edge along his own collarbone. He pressed harder than he had when using the blade on the boy, and the blood welled up quicker and redder. It trickled down his chest in tiny rivulets and he bent, letting Kaiba lap them up before kissing him again and tasting his own blood on the boy's lips and tongue.

It was amazing; exhilarating, to be able to taste his blood after five thousand bodiless years trapped in that confining trinket. After so long being bored and disoriented and overwhelmed with the dizzying changes the world had gone through, it made him feel... almost _human._

He rasped out a throaty chuckle into Kaiba's ear before giving one final thrust with both hips and hand and letting his warmth spill out into the boy beneath him at the same time as Kaiba's own spilled over Bakura's hand.

The black sky outside showed flash after flash of lightning, followed by claps of thunder that grew ever softer as the storm passed over them until only the rain was left; falling in a steady silver curtain from the unseen clouds.

At last, when both their breathing had slowed, Bakura slid out of Kaiba. Ignoring the hand that groped for his arm, he stood, making slow work of locating and then pulling on his jeans, watching his own hands at their work, and knowing Kaiba's eyes were following his every move.

He picked up his dagger, slipping it back into its sheath and then depositing this once more into the back of his jeans, fastening it with a strap on his belt. He reached down and retrieved his shirt, slinging it over one shoulder and finally looking Kaiba in the eye.

"I take it your employees will have left for the evening?"

Kaiba nodded, sitting up and reaching for his pants.

"Good." Bakura turned to the door, pausing on the way to appreciate the flash of lightning that lit the city beyond the window. "I'll show myself out, then."

He walked to the door and pulled it open, letting himself out without a backward glance. Behind him, Kaiba watched him go before turning back to the button on his jeans.

Outside the wind was howling and the thunder rumbled like a giant cat's purr. Bakura stood a moment, feeling the icy water hit his bare skin and drench his hair. It washed away what was left of the blood encrusted around the cut on his collarbone and cooled the heat still left from Kaiba's body against his.

Then he turned, casting a backward glance upward at the glass sides of the building that now looked like a static waterfall. The cold lightning cut split-second jagged slashes across the smooth surface. Then, as the thunder rumbled its way into the distance and out of the city, he followed it.

It can come from out of nowhere,  
  
hit you when you're safe and warm.  
  
Take it easy, my star your time is gonna come,  
  
your time is gonna come.  
  
Yeah, you got those crazy blue eyes.  
  
You got those crazy blues.  
  
All those pretty smiles,  
  
I can see them laughing at you.  
  
Your time is gonna come, your time is gonna come.  
  
I don't wanna be your punching bag,  
  
your complacent little princess all tragic and sad.  
  
I'm not gonna let you overwhelm me anymore.  
  
Yeah, you say you got this bad thing, you say you've got it bad.  
  
You have broken every heart of every friend you've ever had.  
  
Yeah, the time is gonna come when all your friends just go away.  
  
I wonder why you stick around, sometimes I wish you would leave.  
  
You say you love me forever, then you spit on me.  
  
Your time is gonna come,  
  
I swear your time is gonna come.  
  
I don't want to be your whipping boy.  
  
Yes, your happy little loser, someone you can ignore.  
  
I'm not gonna let you overwhelm me anymore.  
  
I'm not gonna let you hurt me anymore.  
  
I'm not gonna let you hit me anymore.  
  
No, I will not let you kick me anymore.  
  
I will not let you overwhelm me anymore.  
  
It can come from out of nowhere.  
  
I don't want to be your simple saving grace,  
  
just another little victim with a happy face.  
  
Someday, someday soon, somebody's gonna come,  
  
I hope they do this to you.  
  
I'm not gonna let you overwhelm me.  
  
I will not let you hurt me anymore.  
  
No, I will not let you hit me anymore.  
  
I will not let you twist me anymore.  
  
No, I will not let you turn me inside out.

owari THE END. owari 


End file.
